Tour Utah's 'Mighty Five' National Parks

The Utah Office of Tourism has launched its spring/summer advertising campaign, which encourages people to visit the five southern Utah national parks.

The campaign features TV commercials that will air in Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle along, along with outdoor “wallscapes” on buildings. It will also include social media activities. You can see the TV commercial here.

The Deseret News has this article about the campaign. Below are excerpts:

"Everybody knows Utah has the greatest snow on earth," said Vicki Varela, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism. "Now we're putting out the story far and wide that we also have the greatest parks on earth."

Varela said advertising the parks after the federal government budget cuts known as sequestration will help would-be tourists understand "our parks are wide open for business."

About the sequestration, Denis Davis, the Utah state coordinator for the National Park Service, said: "The impact is real, but most of the impacts won't be noticed by our visitors. And that's fortunate... I think the more typical things that people will see is that restrooms won't be as clean. There won't be as many ranger-guided programs and activities. And there won't be the same level of law enforcement activity."

The TV commercial features Robb Baumann and his family hiking, rafting and biking through each of the five parks. Baumann, who first lived in Utah as a college student, recently returned because he missed the outdoor activities.