Could 2034 Olympic Games draw too many tourists to Utah?

SALT LAKE CITY — Could Utah get swamped with too many tourists when Salt Lake City hosts the 2034 Winter Olympic Games?

 Recently, residents in Barcelona, Spain — who hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics— feel they have had enough of tourists. According to CNN, some residents are squirting them with water guns as they dine at sidewalk cafes in protest. Some carry signs that say: “Tourists go home” and “You are not welcome.”

 

Carlos Artiles Fortun, former KSL NewsRadio producer, said his home country, Spain depends on tourism dollars. However, its big cities are now experiencing a tourist overload.

“We’re seeing just so much, so many tourists in our cities . . . clogging the beaches. We cannot park in public streets anymore. And even though in a country like Spain, tourism is so important to our economy. . .  the citizens are just tired of it. They’re tired of so many people coming in and disrupting their day-to-day lives while other people are on vacation,” Fortun said.

Spanish residents blame tourists for increasing the cost of short-term housing and making the apartments in city centers unavailable and unaffordable for locals.

He added that tourists discovered a hidden gem in Spain and fell in love with the climate, cuisine and lifestyle. But turning a squad of squirt-gun-wielding locals on tourists dining al fresco is a mistake, he said. 

The 2002 Olympic legacy payoff

Utah is a hidden gem, too, he said. However, it’s less hidden now than before the 2002 Winter Games.

According to a report published by the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, the 2002 Olympics delivered $6.1 billion in economic output and even yielded a surplus of $163.4 million. State taxpayers who helped pay for infrastructure changes and venue construction received their $59 million reimbursement upfront.

Utah’s Olympic venues and resorts have been drawing professional athletes, Olympic tourists, and weekend skiers and snowboarders since 2002.

A gondola is planned to transport skiers and snowboarders up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta and Snowbird ski resorts. Utah lawmakers allocated $150 million for the project, including more buses traveling up the canyon.

But it’s not just northern Utah ski resorts that draw tourists.

Olympic tourists love visiting Red Rock country, too

Zion National Park in Utah is so loved by visitors — and their vehicles — that a shuttle bus is the only way to travel the park’s Scenic Drive between March and November.

Tourists visiting Utah’s national parks, aka The Mighty Five — Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion — numbered 10.6 million visits in 2023. The year was also a record-breaker for Utah’s state parks with more than 12 million visitors, according to a KSL.com analysis of Utah Division of State Parks visitation data.

Dave & Dujanovic can be heard on weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon., and  Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m.

Related:

• Utahns react to announcement of 2034 Olympics
• Local Olympians share their thoughts on the return of the Winter Olympics to Salt Lake