PROVO — The Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau is hoping to clear a marketing hurdle by making it easy for Utah County residents to become local tourists.

Every residence in Utah County soon will be mailed a Utah Valley Adventure Passport — a 60-page publication highlighting 24 area attractions, with discounts and coupons to visit those sites.

Nearly 130,000 of the passport-size booklets are expected to be mailed out next week with brochures for America's Freedom Festival at Provo. Another 15,000 will be available at the UVCVB visitor information center, 111 S. University Ave., Provo, and through its Web site, www.utahvalley.org.

The booklets are the product of a partnership between the UVCVB and the hospitality and business communities in Utah County, said Joel Racker, president and CEO of the convention and visitors bureau.

"Our private partners really stepped up to the plate to make sure this is a great offering for both visitors and locals to use," Racker said.

Most of the attractions and businesses highlighted in the passports contributed funds to be part of the mailer, he said. Costs for the project still are being totaled, but Racker said he expects partners' contributions to cover 20 percent to 25 percent.

"It's a partnership to drive lodging and visitation to our different attractions and points of interest throughout the county," he said.

It's also viewed as a way to solve problems identified by the UVCVB through market research in 2004.

"We found out that most of the residents of Utah County don't know what there is to do in the county," Racker said. "They don't really think of us as a destination."

The market research also showed that one of the top sources people use for tourism information when visiting out-of-town family and friends is to ask those friends or family members, he said.

"The No. 1 reason we're doing this is so we can influence people from out of the area to spend more time in our county — exploring Utah County, staying in our hotels and resorts and visiting the wonderful attractions we have," Racker said.

The Utah Valley Adventure Passport is the same size as an actual passport and comes with self-adhesive stamps designed to be applied to its pages after attractions have been visited.

Racker said the bureau has received positive feedback about the passport from local mayors and other elected officials, whose cities stand to benefit from increased tourism.

"I think it will be a fun project if people get involved with it," said Utah County Commissioner Larry Ellertson. "It'll be good to get people within the valley to recognize what's here, and more so to get those from outside to come in."

The Utah Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau began operating separate from the county in August 2003. The nonprofit organization is funded by the county.

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