Today the Outdoor Retailer trade show opens with its All Mountain Demo at Solitide Mountain Resort. It moves downtown to the Salt Palace tomorrow.
A lot has changed in the 20 years since the Outdoor Retailer trade show first made Salt Lake City its home. The conventions themselves have gotten larger, as has the percentage of Utah’s economy linked to businesses that specialize in outdoor recreation. This is not coincidental.
The biannual trade shows have brought tens of thousands of people here to show off their products among their peers in a fast-growing field. That exposure has influenced the decision of companies to headquarter businesses here, solidifying the state’s reputation as a place where a healthy business climate intersects with an abundance of recreational opportunities and a culture steeped in enjoying those amenities. In 1996, when the retailers held their first show here, Utah was certainly on the map of places where recreation businesses thrive. Today, in many ways, it’s moved to the center of that map.
The awakening of a giant outdoors industry here has influenced the local culture in dramatic ways and solidified an enduring international image of Utah as a center of recreation-based commerce. The outdoor recreation industry generates nearly twice as much annual consumer spending as the automotive industry, or the pharmaceutical industry, according to data collected in 2011. In Utah, that translates into $12 billion in annual consumer spending. The industry is responsible for 126,000 direct jobs here, generating $3.6 billion in wages and salaries and $856 million in annual tax revenues.
It may not have all started with the first Outdoor Retailer show at the Salt Palace in 1996. Certainly, the 2002 Winter Olympics turbocharged the evolution of the state’s status in the recreation galaxy, but the retailer shows offer a twice-yearly exclamation point, not to mention a healthy short-term boost to the local economy. The show held in August brought in more than 1,400 exhibitors, including more than 300 new attendees. Nearly 30,000 people attended, spending a total of $25 million in direct spending.
As the annual winter show convenes this week, visitors in fleece vests and down-filled jackets will stroll downtown streets for the better part of a week, patronizing restaurants and shopping malls and filling hotel rooms. Many will be return visitors. Show organizers say attendees are impressed every year by the welcoming atmosphere. Utah, in turn, is enriched by the their presence.