Utah tourism losing millions of dollars

Utah tourism officials say the state is losing millions of a dollars a day due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Visit Salt Lake spokesman Shawn Stinson says nearly 30 conventions and meetings have been postponed in the Salt Lake City area since COVID-19 restrictions began last month.

The Utah Department of Tourism says visits to the Beehive State are down between 90 and 99-percent since February. 

Since tourism generates an average of 26-million-dollars a day for the state, the economic loss could be close to a billion-dollars by the middle of this month.

Utah Tourism Director Vicki Varela says the pandemic has devastated the state's visitor-dependent businesses, but says Utahns have to keep in mind a bigger priority.