Visit Salt Lake tells Sandy City CTA is driving hotel demand, sports events and roughly $107 million in economic impact

Visit Salt Lake representatives updated the Sandy City Council on the South District Convention and Tourism Assessment area on Sept. 30, saying the hotel-led CTA has driven event bookings, room nights and marketing investment that benefited Sandy hotels.

The CTA is a 2% assessment on hotel room revenue that began in October 2023 and is collected by Salt Lake County for redistribution to three CTA districts. "Sandy City has eight hotels, which represents a little over a thousand hotel rooms," said Clay Partain, chief sports officer at Visit Salt Lake. "Last year, Sandy hotels generated approximately $25,000,000 in room revenue." He added that CTA-funded programs helped bring events and marketing that increased room demand and local spending.

Visit Salt Lake and local hoteliers said the South District (Sandy and Draper) uses CTA funds in several buckets: a districtwide development and programming fund (about 50% and overseen by an executive committee), a regional "sales" bucket for incentives, a major event impact fund and an administrative fund. South District committee members present included Jennifer George, general manager of the Residence Inn by Marriott in Sandy; Mary Birch, director of sales at the Hyatt House; and Christopher King, general manager of the Courtyard by Marriott.

Why it matters: Council members heard that CTA dollars can shift events that would otherwise go to the Salt Palace or other venues into Mountain America Expo Center and surrounding hotels, with ripple effects for restaurants and retail. "From a business standpoint, the CTA has really been a game changer for all of us," said Jennifer George. "The marketing and group business it's generated speaks directly to more heads and beds. We've seen higher occupancy during times that used to be much slower."

Key figures and examples presented: Sandy's hotels average roughly 70% occupancy and about $120 average daily rate; Visit Salt Lake estimated Sandy hotels produced roughly $25 million in room revenue last year and that visitors account for about 27% of all spending in Sandy, based on third‑party card‑spend data. CTA budgets cited were about $7.8 million in 2024 and $8.3 million in 2025 countywide. Visit Salt Lake staff said the South District confirmed 22 CTA-supported events that together were projected to bring about 243,000 attendees, 169,000 room nights and an estimated $107 million in economic impact. Examples cited included the USA Gymnastics development program (estimated about 6,500 room nights and $7.1 million economic impact) and the National Horseshoe Pitchers Association world championship (estimated $7.8 million economic impact).

Presenters said the CTA has funded digital marketing campaigns, including an Expedia campaign in February–March 2025 that the presenters said delivered roughly 5,000 room nights and a 7:1 return on ad spend for participating hotels. Visit Salt Lake staff also pointed to a 1.3% year‑over‑year increase in RevPAR (revenue per available room) for the South District compared with peer markets they track.

Council members asked how the Salt Palace renovation/demolition could affect future bookings and whether Mountain America Expo Center can absorb displaced events. Clay Partain and other presenters said Salt Palace construction creates an opportunity to attract conventions and sporting events to Mountain America and other venues in the district but that doing so will require coordination on logistics, incentives and sometimes CTA dollars to offset increased operational complexity.

No public commenters spoke during the CTA presentation. The council did not take formal action on the update; it was presented as an information item.

The CTA presenters left the council with a pledge to provide more detail on economic-impact calculations and to continue coordinating with local hoteliers and venues as Salt Palace construction proceeds.