Salt Lake City is 'America's Mountain City' in new tourism campaign

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's capital city might fall short of being a mile high in elevation, but county tourism officials are launching a catchy new way to capitalize on Salt Lake City's proximity to mountains.

Salt Lake is "America's Mountain City," Visit Salt Lake officials are proclaiming, in an effort to highlight its proximity to Olympic-level resorts and recreation. Kaitlin Eskelson, the organization's president and CEO, contends that no other city offers an emerging urban experience that's also a 40-minute drive from mountain resorts.

"Salt Lake is proudly claiming our title as 'America's Mountain City' because no other destination offers a world-class urban experience and a mountainous playground that is so effortlessly combined," she said on Monday. "We've removed the friction from travel so visitors can come experience the summit and the city, seamlessly, on the exact same day."

The new campaign effort highlights Utah's "booming culinary scene," which has slowly captured national attention. Cosmica was named by The New York Times as one of the 50 best restaurants in the U.S. last year, while a growing number of chefs and restaurants have been nominated for James Beard Awards.

It also celebrates the growth of sports in the area, with the Utah Mammoth, fresh off a playoff run, providing the city and region with its second "big four" sports franchise. There are many public art features, museums, concert venues and other cultural features throughout the valley, too.

These are a taste of the city's experiences, county tourism officials say, while also being super close to hiking experiences and resorts in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons. The campaign essentially argues you can enjoy both experiences on the same day.

"Everything that Salt Lake has to offer is surprisingly close and effortlessly accessible. From the airport to the mountains, from a rooftop bar to a secluded canyon, Salt Lake makes exploration seamless," the organization added.

Salt Lake City has largely been referred to as the "Crossroads of the West," which dates back to the peak railroad era in the 1800s. Visit Salt Lake's previous brand push, which it unveiled in 2021, featured the motto "West of Conventional," which highlighted both the past and the mountain theme.

It focused on Salt Lake City being a "city of juxtapositions" because, among other things, it has an urban space next to mountains that made it unique, as compared to other Western marketing campaigns at the time.

The new effort seeks to gain momentum as Salt Lake City and Utah prepare to host the Winter Olympics and Paralympics for the second time in 2034, putting the area back on the global stage, officials said.

The county plays a vital role in the state's tourism industry. It generated nearly $4.2 billion in direct visitor spending in 2024, accounting for one-third of all statewide visitor spending that year, according to the most recent data published by the University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.

It helped support over 30,000 direct jobs and accounted for nearly 15% of all local sales tax revenue.

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