SALT LAKE CITY-
Travel guru Arthur Frommer offers much advice. Not everyone is listening, if lodging ledgers in southern Utah’s Kane County are a sign.
Room taxes and tourist traffic hit a record this year, despite Frommer’s call to boycott Kanab after town leaders said the “natural family” has mom at home, dad at work and many kids running around.
“Arthur Frommer hurt us a little bit in the early part of the season and then we rebounded,” said Ted Hallisey, Kane County’s tourism director.
County lodging taxes totaled $371,903 for the 12-month period ending Oct. 31, compared to $348,839 for the same period a year earlier, Hallisey said Friday.
In October alone, taxes were $36,600, up 58 percent, he said.
Kane County, 300 miles south of Salt Lake City, is a gateway to some of Utah’s grandest red rock landscapes as well as Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks.
The cliffs and canyons were a favorite location to film westerns such as “Gunsmoke” and “The Lone Ranger.”
In Kanab, the county seat with a population of 3,600, the City Council in January unanimously passed a resolution in favor of a traditional family as the best way to raise children.
In a March 2 syndicated newspaper column, Frommer called for a travel boycott. He later said Kanab’s resolution was a “smokescreen for discriminating against gays.” Council members felt the criticism was unfair.
Frommer shrugged off news of higher tax revenue.
“These are just numbers. I don’t think it means anything,” he said Friday from his office in New York City. “I still have grave concerns. My own conscience does not permit me to vacation among people who are as intolerant as that City Council.”
Frommer, noting the good economy, said tourism was up across the country this year, with many cities and national parks reporting record numbers.
After he endorsed a boycott, hundreds of calls and letters poured into the local tourism office, and many businesses reported cancellations from tour companies and travelers.
Hallisey said some businesses tried to counter the negative publicity with an “Everyone Welcome Here” campaign, posting stickers in windows at shops, restaurants and hotels.
“They made lemonade out of the lemon,” he said.
Frommer said he hopes merchants will continue to battle what he considers bigotry in Kanab. But he isn’t planning to make a visit himself.
“We just don’t like to travel to places were people are intolerant,” Frommer said.
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