Tourism funding disbursed

The Utah Board of Tourism Development on Friday approved more than $790,000 in the first round of applications for the state's new cooperative marketing program for tourism.

The state has appropriated $2 million this fiscal year for co-op programs.

Those approved Friday are:

• Salt Lake Airport/Park City, $112,500

• Deaflympics, $100,000

• Moab Convention and Visitors Bureau, $100,000

• Ski Utah, $94,271

• Salt Lake CVB — Ski Salt Lake, $75,000

• Garfield County, $67,334

• American West Heritage Center, $49,592

• Zion and Bryce, $33,500

• Park City Jazz Foundation, $25,500

• Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce — Golf Wasatch, $20,000

• Kimball Arts, $19,688

• Sevier County CVB, $18,750

• Cache Valley CVB, $14,852

• Ogden-Weber CVB, $11,250

• Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce — Snowmobiling, $10,000

• Heber Railroad, $10,000

• Union Station, $8,750

• Wayne County, $8,029

• Moab Music Festival, $6,007

• Alta, $5,000

The board considered 39 applications seeking nearly $1.9 million.

"We were gratified at the overwhelming response we received in this first go-around for the opportunity to partner with the state and leverage Utah's advertising dollars," Leigh von der Esch, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism in the Governor's Office of Economic Development, said in a prepared statement. "The committee was impressed with the cost/benefit ratio and leveraging of advertising dollars that the successful applicants presented."

Eligible organizations must be cities, counties, nonprofit destination marketing organizations or similar public entities that have been established as a nonprofit for at least one year. The tourism office will match up to half of the cost of a marketing project. All projects must use the state brand and have a call to action.

The next application deadline in the first funding cycle is Dec. 1. The second funding cycle will begin in February. Applications and guidelines can be downloaded at travel.utah.gov.

Details about the co-op guidelines and the application form are available by calling the tourism office at 801-538-1900.