Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Rising U.S. vaccination rates are helping drive a resurgence in air travel and hotel bookings around the country but a full recovery for Utah’s $10 billion-a-year travel and tourism industry is likely still years away.
And while Utah’s one-of-a-kind natural assets helped buoy the sector amid COVID-19 conditions that drove unprecedented interest in — and travel to — outdoor destinations, the state’s urban centers have been hit hardest by the pandemic and will be the slowest to recover.
A late-April economic report from Adobe Analytics found that the wide U.S. deployment of COVID-19 vaccinations combined with fresh cash infusions that went out to most residents through another round of federal stimulus payments is helping drive a travel surge.