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Moab Office of Tourism presents 2025 goals and new visitor-spend metric; board pushes for higher growth target
Summary
The Moab Office of Tourism outlined its 2025 goals and a new visitor-spend metric at the March 11 advisory board meeting; staff proposed a 2% visitor-spend improvement as a starting target while the county commission’s economic subcommittee previously set a 6% target, prompting debate and a request for more data and a workshop.
The Moab Office of Tourism presented its 2025 departmental goals to the advisory board on March 11, including a new measurement approach to calculate average visitor spend and a brief list of near-term priorities such as launching a web platform, hiring a public relations firm, and beginning a branding effort.
Director Ben Frederigill described the new metric as a way to pair TRT/TRCCA collections (tax receipts) with an estimated visitor denominator so the office can measure “spend per visitor” rather than relying solely on sales or room tax. “The reason that’s important is it at least gives us a measurement by visitor or a spend by visitor metric,” Frederigill said, urging the board to use the number as a baseline and to update it as methods improve.
Staff proposed a modest 2% target increase in average visitor spend for the coming year as an initial, measurable goal. Several board members and the county liaison pushed back, noting recent state and national forecasts that indicate higher growth and citing a commission economic subcommittee recommendation to aim for 6% growth. Brian Martinez reported the commission subcommittee had set a 6% target for spend growth; Frederigill referenced the office’s planned baseline methodology but said targets can be revised: “We can always change the percentage.”
Board members highlighted practical measurement concerns and requested more transparency on the data sources and assumptions. Committee members asked for comparisons to state and national benchmarks and for clearer links to marketing tactics (for example, whether increasing average length of stay or shifting visitor segments is the priority). Board members asked staff to provide a one- or two-page metric dashboard and to convene a workshop so the board can review assumptions and suggest targets in April.
Why it matters: The new metric is intended to make tourism investments more measurable and to inform marketing and budget decisions. The debate over target size (2% proposed vs. 6% previously recommended) reflects a broader tension between conservative baselining and more aggressive economic-growth objectives set by the county commission.
Next steps: Staff will produce a clearer baseline methodology, share underlying data with the board, and schedule a workshop in April to finalize annual goals. The board voted unanimously earlier in the meeting to postpone adoption of board-level goals until April to allow subcommittee follow-up and public notice.
Speakers quoted: Ben Frederigill (Moab Office of Tourism director); Brian Martinez (Grand County commissioner liaison).
Topics: department goals; measurement; budgetary targets; commission guidance.
