Officials of the National Tour Association will be in Salt Lake City this week for further planning of the group's annual convention at the Salt Palace Oct. 29-Nov. 3, 1989.
Rebecca Simpson, tourism director for the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau, will be the hostess for J. Mitchell Kirchner, director of conventions, and Linda Howard, chairwoman of the 1989 convention, who also is assistant director of the Wyoming Travel Commission.Simpson said the NTA officials will tour all the hotels where convention delegates will be housed, the Salt Palace meeting rooms; restaurants; and also Temple Square, where delegates will hear a special concert by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
In November, a delegation of Utahns attended NTA's annual convention in Kansas City, Mo., to hold a reception and musical program to get convention delegates excited about attending next year's convention in Salt Lake City, Simpson said.
NTA officials expect 3,000 people representing 700 of the top group tour operators in the United States to attend next year's convention. "This is the elite of the elite in the group tour business," said Simpson, and the economic impact from the convention will be $3.5 million from the convention delegates, which doesn't include the $950,000 spent on transportation.
The biggest impact will come from the tours booked by the tour operators as a result of the convention and that will mean a $20 million impact for the region as a result of the tour work completed during the convention.
In addition to viewing the hotels and Salt Palace, the NTA officials will meet with Gov. Norm Bangerter or a representative, Salt Lake County Commission Chairman Bart Barker and Salt Lake City Mayor Palmer DePaulis. They also will meet with Temple Square President Joseph Horne, choir president Wendell Smoot and choir director Jerald Ottley to complete arrangements for the choir's special concert.
Simpson said hosting of the NTA convention is a combined state and local government effort. The Utah Division of Travel Development and the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau are each providing $75,000 with the remainder of the $200,000 budget coming from private company donations.