Comments about ‘Downturn not slowing flow of foreign tourists to Utah’

It isnt surprising. Utah is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Utah cannot survive on the tourism dollar alone; however, the $$$ that wealthy foreign visitors drop when they come to see Arches or Canyonlands or Dinosaur are a very real, dependable, and sizeable part of our economic pie. THAT'S why it was foolish to consider drilling adjacent to national parks and monuments. As in "killing the goose that laid the golden egg." Get one big meal (a limited gas deposit), while permanently impairing a steady stream of food.

One picture is worth a thousand words. I'm glad I got to see Utah before industrial tourism ruined it. Why would I waste time walking to Delicate Arch to stand in line for a picture angle?

Utah is the capital of multi level marketing worldwide. Asia represents a huge constituency of where they direct their marketing efforts towards. It is no surprise with large conventions such as USANA and Nu Skin that we need to have a direct route. It will only increase as these types of companies tend to do better when the economy is down because people are looking for an extra source of income. Salt Lake County and the state will benefit from this direct route.

No one is trying to drill in national parks or try to destroy them in ANY way. That is a bunch of environmentalist propoganda. We need energy and we need tourism. We are ALL trying to take advantage of both resources and no one wants to hurt our national parks, forest, monuments, etc.

I wish people would stop trying to scare everyone. Drilling outside national parks doesn't hurt them at all. The greens are just trying to find any excuse to stop any development whatsoever.

As someone who lives in southern Utah surrounded by national parks and has a business that depends on tourism, I'm not ONE BIT worried about drilling near national parks.

Let's stop being so emotional about everything and just be reasonable and cautious about the way we use our resources.

We all love our natural beauty and will do what we can to preseve it.

I lived in Europe for a number of years, and I was always amazed at how many Europeans want to come to Utah. You would think it would be for the skiing , right? Nope, I had a lot of 20-somethings on my staff, and the number one thing they wanted to do was mountain bike at Slickrock. It was like Mecca for these folks, and they would come back with incredibile stories about how much fun they had. I've seen a lot of Moab bumper stickers all over Europe. Who would have thought? Older Europeans want to see and do 4 things in the US: shop in New York, see the sights in California (all the stuff they see in movies and on TV) gamble in Las Vegas, and see the Grand Canyon. And when they visit the Grand Canyon, it's easy to see Zions and Bryce as well. Whenever a European found out that I grew up in Utah, they would very often mention Bryce Canyon. There's just nothing like these parks (especially Bryce) anywhere else on Earth.

...against the dollar right now, but the US is still a great bargain for Europeans, even during a global recession. I was on a flight from Stuttgart to Frankfurt in December 2007 (before the recession) and the flight was packed with young Europeans who were connecting in Frankfurt and heading to New York to go Christmas shopping. And why not? They fly for free on frequent flyer miles, they stay for free with frequent stay points, and everything in New York costs 1/3 what it does in Germany (the Euro was hovering around 1.60 then). The Euro is down a bit now, but the US is still super cheap for Europeans, even during this recession.

I, too, live next to a national monument, and I'm plenty worried about drilling taking place right on its border. The last parcels that the Bush Administration put together before easing out the back door was an egregious bunch that should never have been offered. Never before was there such a dustup over leases, which, after all, are routinely offered 4 times a year. The fact that so many people registered their concern is a measure of how bad they were, and how many people disagree with you.