Long seen as an affordable and safe destination, Salt Lake's boosters are embracing a new strategy that relies on the city's alpine beauty to draw meeting clients.

"The mountains surrounding Salt Lake are more than just a pretty backdrop. They are what set us apart as a destination," said Mark White, a vice president at the Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. After the city's international debut during the 2002 Olympics, the bureau commissioned a national survey to find out what brings travelers to Salt Lake. The answer was a surprise for Salt Lake's boosters.

"Before the Olympics, we spent a lot of time talking about our new 370,000-square-foot convention center, our 300 downtown clubs, bars, and pubs, or our 7,100 downtown hotel rooms." White said. "While infrastructure is certainly important, the Olympics changed the way the world sees Salt Lake, and it changed the way we see our own community. We stopped taking the Rocky Mountains for granted and started marketing Salt Lake as a unique urban mountain retreat."

White points out that many of the same qualities that brought the Olympics to Salt Lake continue to attract convention delegates--qualities such as a close international airport, compact city center, and access to mountain recreation. Salt Lake's convention hotels are a ten minute walk from mountain bike paths and hiking trails, and world-class ski resorts like Alta, Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird are 30 minutes away.

"From a pure infrastructure standpoint, we can easily compete with any other mid-sized city in America," White said, "but nobody else has our proximity to mountains. According to our survey, the mountains are Salt Lake's greatest selling point. Now all our messages focus on the Rockies."

Salt Lake's paradigm shift extends beyond alpine impressions, into real brick and mortar Olympic sized improvements. To host the Games, Salt Lake underwent a massive face lift. "In many ways, Salt Lake is like a brand new city with new hotels, restaurants, and attractions," White said, "though we don't spend nearly as much time talking about that now."

The Salt Palace Convention Center, used as the Main Media Center during the Games, installed a state-of-the-art fiber-optic backbone, as well as wireless Internet access. Hotel inventory shot up 64 percent in five years before the Olympics, with new four- and five-star hotels around the Salt Palace. Recent developments include the Olympic Cauldron Park at the site of Opening Ceremonies, a new 240,000-square-foot public library, and the world's most technologically advanced star theater at the new Clark Planetarium. A new Ski Museum at the Utah Olympic Park, 25 minutes from downtown, is a year-round training site for Olympic athletes. The Park is open to the public and includes facilities for summer and winter bobsled rides. "How many other cities can teach delegates how to bobsled?" White asked.

"The Olympics changed national perceptions of our community," said White. "Now we're talking about Salt Lake as a Rocky Mountain retreat, not just another second-tier city with a new facility or new hotels. The Rockies are the biggest thing on our skyline. Now we know they are also our biggest attraction."

###

Media Contact: Jason Mathis +1 801-534-4913 jason@saltlake.org