Kane County, Utah is known for its rugged beauty, national monuments, and filming opportunities.

2. Economic Snapshot
• TRCC 81.84% of LY YTD
• 1% Sales Tax 104.34% of LY YTD
• Optional ¼% Sales Tax 101.6% of LY YTD
• TRT 79.16% of LY YTD
 September 2020 Kane County Record Collection for TRT
• New Building Permits-204 so far this year. 2019 was 201 Total.
• School Enrollment is up
• Kane County has already surpassed 2019 New Building Permits

4. What is Tourism?
Tourism is
Importing
Money
Tourism is the
front door to
Economic
Development
for other
industries
Tourism
accounts for
over 43% of
the jobs in
Kane County.
3rd most
tourism-
dependent
economy in
Utah*
*Kem C. Gardener
Policy Institute UofU

5. Kane County Office of
Tourism
Officially, we are a DMO —
Destination Marketing Organization
Unofficially, we are DDMMO —
Destination Development,
Management and Marketing
Organization.
We do more than promote/market, we
improve and protect the destination
and leverage our visitor economy for
local benefit.

6. Destination Development
East Zion Initiative
VC station
Trails
Shuttle
New Visitor Center
The Wave lottery-
Co-op with Pub.
Lands to assist with
demands
(staffing/facility)
The Kanab Center Trails Development
Encourage and
promote new
businesses
Events to compliment
seasonality
Wayfinding Signs
North Rim Grand
Canyon –expand the
season

7. Destination Management
Protect the resources—like a National Park
 Disperse visitors geographically and seasonally:
 Adventure Maps
 Trail development
 Trails App
 Ad campaigns that disperse seasonally
 Booking engine to book tours and lodging
 Events that drive visitation in our low spots
 Going after key international winter markets
 Extending season of North Rim

8. Quality not Quantity
UOT Red Emerald Initiative:
• Long-term sustainable tourism growth
• Protecting the resident and visitor experience
Kane County “Stay a Little Longer” Initiative
• Rather than more visitors, fewer visitors that stay
longer, spend more, go off the beaten path and
connect with locals.

9. Stay a Little Longer

10. Tourism Strategy through Covid
• The local Tourism Office went very nuclear (focusing on the core) on marketing when the world was
shutting down.
• They focused first on keeping the morale up locally through several economic stimulus campaigns.
• They created a local initiative to create a culture of safety- Above and Beyond.
• Pushed to go “Green” with the State. Kane County was first to open up on June 12th.
• Positioning: No Crowds, Low Case Counts, Culture of Safety, Wide Open Spaces with Magical Outdoor
destinations.
• They started to expand regionally to the close day-trip markets: St. George and Cedar City.
• Then they expanded to our top drive, over-night markets: Las Vegas and Wasatch Front
• We have had major outdoor events since going green and we are still one of the few places hosting
events regularly.
• They did more micro-campaigns with adaptive audiences as more areas were opening up.
• Seizing opportunities- Music Festival and the RMPRA Finals.

11. The Good News
Recovering from COVID Impacts
Strategy Matters
We went from
being down 44%
to 22%
In August we had
the highest TRT
collections in a
month since 2017
We Expect to have
an even stronger
September!
#KaneCountyStrong

12. Tourism Economy
• Tourism is Economic Development.
• We import money, tax our visitors and save our residents money in
taxes every year.
• We capitalize on a visitor economy to benefit our residents!
• Because of TRT, each household in the State saves $1100-$1400 every
year in taxes that they would otherwise have to pay for services and
infrastructure paid for by taxes from tourists.

13. East Zion initiative

14. Key Elements
• East Zion Visitor Center
• Public Transit System
• Road Infrastructure
• Private Development
• Trails
• Branding and Marketing

19. Utah Population Distribution Percent
by Sex and Age
4.4
8.8
8.2
7.6
6.8
5.2
4.7
2.9
1.4
0.5
4.1
8.3
7.9
7.3
6.5
5.1
4.8
3.2
1.7
0.7
10 8 6 4 2 0 2 4 6 8 10
Under 5
5 to 14
15 to 24
25 to 34
35 to 44
45 to 54
55 to 64
65 to 74
75 to 84
Over 85
Male
Female

20. Kane County Population Distribution
Percent by Sex and Age
3.3
6.5
6.6
5.7
5.5
5.1
6.9
6.7
3.5
0.8
2.4
6.3
5.5
5.4
4.7
6.1
8.3
7.1
2.3
1.4
10 8 6 4 2 0 2 4 6 8 10
Under 5
5 to 14
15 to 24
25 to 34
35 to 44
45 to 54
55 to 64
65 to 74
75 to 84
Over 85
Male
Female

21. Emery
Carbon
Millard
Juab
Beaver
San Juan
Sevier
Grand
Wayne
Garfield
Sanpete
Piute 2,056
2,089
2,122
2,178
2,182
2,280
2,446
2,511
2,622
2,682
2,860
3,060
3,171
3,602
Average MonthlyWages By County
State
Kane

23. 23
3.7
2.5
0
5
10
15
20
25
1930 1984 2012
Billions of Hours of Farm Labor
Farming in the U.S.

24. Logging Employment in the West

25. Land Ownership

26. Kane County Economic Development
Overall Strategies
Local Business Growth
 Business Friendly Environment, Customer Service
 Support Local Business
Extended Stay Tourism
 Trails, Outfitter businesses, Support Adventure Events
Natural Resources
 Timber, Agricultural, Mining
Attract New Business
 Welcome New Possibilities
Infrastructure Development
 Kanab Center, Airport, Hospital, Broadband Internet

30. Projects
•Outdoor Recreation
•Economic Development
•Film Commission

31. Outdoor Recreation/Trails
• Projects and Grants
 Connector Trail
 Jackson Flat Reservoir
 Stud Horse
 East Zion
 Spruce’s Campground*
 Tom’s Canyon* Mountain Bike
 Chocolate Cliffs
 Mansard
 Coral Pink Sand Dunes*
 Kanab Creek Trails

32. Apple Iphone 11

33. • Rural County Grant Program
• Rural Incentive Programs
• Film Incentives
• Rural Tourism
• Outdoor Recreation
• East Zion Shuttle
State Support

34. Economic Development
• Remote Work
• Rural County Grant Program
 Business Trainings
 Business Grants
 Agritourism

35. 2020 BEAR and EDCU Program
Grants
• Business Trainings and Skill Development
• Community Driven Economic Development Planning: USU Capstone
• Small COVID Relief Grant
 39 Businesses Applied
 23 Businesses Funded
• EDCU Community Match Grant: USU Capstone