Significant News:
Another boatload of good news arrived in Park City last week. The Bonanza Flats deal, which once seemed impossible, closed on the June 15th deadline with hours to spare. The acquisition covers 1,350 acres popular with recreation lovers who hike and bike there in summer and cross country ski and snowshoe there in winter. A $25 million dollar bond was passed in Park City last fall and it was announced in January that an additional $13 million would be needed to meet the purchase price of $38 million. It would take a long time to name the estimated 3,500 donors who stepped up to raise the additional funds required, but it included participation from Summit County, Wasatch County, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County and second home owners from all over the country. Long expected to be a luxury golf/ski development site, citizens decided conservation and protecting the watershed were more important.
It was also announced last week that 2016-17 was a record-setting ski season for Utah's 14 ski resorts attracting 4,584,658 skier days even though a late start limited the Thanksgiving traffic. Deer Valley and Park City Mountain resort had banner years with the Vail Resorts Epic Pass program being credited for pulling in more skiers. The Utah Tourism Office reported that Utah's resorts generated $8.2 billion in spending in their winter and summer seasons and $1.15 billion in total state and local taxes. This years snow total winner was Brighton Resort with 632 inches of snowfall.
A new economic impact study by Y2 Analytics released last week shows that an estimated 71,638 people attended some part of the 11 day January Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Salt Lake City and the Sundance Resort. Y2 estimated that this years festival generated an estimated $151.5 million in economic impact in Utah. It supported 2,778 jobs and generated $14 million in state and local tax revenue, up from $8 million in 2016. It is interesting to note that attendance was nearly evenly split between Utahns and non-residents and only 14.5% of attendees work in the entertainment industry. The top five states for out-of-state attendees were California, Illinois, Nevada, New York and Pennsylvania.
