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Emery County travel office outlines tighter 2026 marketing budget after state TRT changes; staff cites $1.9M impact from events
Summary
At its Feb. 10 meeting, the Emery County Travel Bureau reviewed new state rules for transient room tax spending, presented a constrained $31,000 county marketing budget and highlighted an estimated $1.9 million economic impact from 40 supported events. Staff said data contracts and targeted reporting will guide scarce 2026 marketing decisions.
At the Feb. 10 meeting of the Emery County Travel Bureau in the Castle Dale courthouse, director Judy Bishop told the board that recent state legislation has changed how transient room tax (TRT) money may be spent and that Emery County will fall under a new revenue tier with a tighter split between marketing and projects.
"We act as the county's destination marketing office and all of the transient room tax and the TRCCA...comes through us, and there's strict state statutes on how we have to spend those funds," Bishop said, explaining the bureau's advisory role to the commission and the new requirement to allocate a larger share of county TRT to projects rather than promotions.
Staff presented a county marketing budget for 2026 of roughly $31,000. Bishop said the bureau can still fund event marketing, website and visitor guides, and a small set of one‑time projects, but that the office will need to make strategic choices because advertising dollars are smaller than in recent years.
Anna, the bureau's events coordinator, highlighted the office's recent event workshop and a community report that compiled survey responses from nearly 200 participants. "The estimate from the 40 events is $1,900,000," she said, summarizing staff calculations for the board and adding that 86 percent of attendees reported staying at least one night because of the events.
Board members asked about the value of the bureau's two‑year contract with Placer AI, a data platform staff have used to analyze visitor origins and event performance. Bishop said the first year cost $12,000 and the second year is $13,000, and that the county is being handed off to an account specialist who can produce tailored reports. "If somebody has something specific they want us to pull, we can," she said. Members encouraged staff to mine the platform for historical trends and to use the data to prioritize event and infrastructure investments.
On funding floors and special funds, Bishop reviewed the travel bureau's mitigation uses—staffing for a sheriff's public‑lands position, a county road employee in Green River, EMS support tied to visitor needs, and the trails crew and visitor centers. The board also discussed a one‑time special projects pot and noted a $100,000 surplus set aside for single‑year projects, which must still meet TRT spending rules.
Why it matters: the bureau said reduced discretionary marketing means it will target spending where data shows the most return—events, targeted digital campaigns and cooperative advertising. Staff told the board it will return next month with more detailed Placer AI reporting and a proposed list of marketing priorities for 2026.
Next steps: the bureau will pull Placer AI reports tailored to the board's strategic questions and bring any contract renewals and proposed advertising buys back for approval at future meetings.
