As gas prices soar, parks in Utah see fewer visitors

Paying more for gas was expected to keep people home this summer, but the numbers of visitors at Utah's summer hot spots suggest that's only partly true.

Utah state parks are seeing 11 percent fewer visitors this year, according to the State Division of Parks and Recreation. On the other hand, ticket sales to the Utah Shakespearean Festival and Tuacahn Amphitheatre performances are way up. And Utah Lake bosses are thankful for overflow parking.

"We usually go to Lake Powell once or twice a year," Draper resident Dayna Simons said Friday after docking her family boat at Utah Lake. "I think we're cutting that one out. We're doing things closer to home."

Utah gas prices, which on Friday averaged a record-high $4.22 a gallon, were expected to tether many families near their homes.

Just under half of Utahns surveyed around Memorial Day weekend said they planned to scale back summer vacation plans, according to a Deseret News/KSL-TV poll by Dan Jones & Associates.

A Travel Industry Association report found that gas prices would result in shorter trips, fewer trips and less money spent while on vacation. The good news is, Utah has plenty of outdoor recreation — all part of a $5.8 billion a year industry here — within an hour's drive for many residents.

That said, some summer hot spots are doing well.

Ticket sales are up 20 percent over the best year ever at Tuacahn Amphitheatre and Center for the Arts near St. George, Tuacahn's chief executive officer Kevin Smith said.

The Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City reports a 5 percent boost in ticket sales, spokeswoman Amanda Caraway said.

Both say "blockbuster" lineups this year have contributed to the rise.

Yet Cedar City and the surrounding area aren't getting much of the festival's spoils. Hotel occupancy there is down about 2 percent, said Maria Twitchell, executive director of the Cedar City/Brian Head Tourism Bureau. A new hotel opened up there, which might have something to do with the numbers, she noted. But gas prices also likely come into play.

"We're definitely a drive destination," Twitchell said.

Other Utah towns are showing some highs and lows.

Park City's mountain ambience was a hot commodity on the Fourth of July, Park City Chamber Bureau executive director Bill Malone said. But overall visitation is down.

"Pretty much this summer, our weeks have ranged anywhere from 5 to 13 percent off the numbers last year," he said. Some of it has to do with corporate retreats.

"While their company may be very healthy financially, we hear of groups who cut on their corporate travel ... based on the perception of spending money in an economic downturn," Malone said.

Vacationers aren't crowding to several other Utah getaways, either.