Chamber Weekly Luncheon

Today's luncheon will feature Red Oelerich, Editor in Chief with Outdoor Utah Adventure Guide presenting on "How outdoor recreation and adventure relates to tourism."  He will show the economic impact adventure travel has on the State of Utah.

Outdoor Utah, Inc. promotes and develops warm weather recreational tourism and adventure travel to visitors and Utah citizens.  The company publishes the annual Outdoor Utah Adventure Guide, now celebrating its 25^th anniversary, and maintains several websites, the most notably OutdoorUtah.com.

Outdoor Utah enjoys a unique public/private partnership with the Utah Office of Tourism (UOT) in promoting warm weather adventure tourism statewide. UOT allocates a portion of their spring/summer marketing budget for postage to mail the Guide into several key out-of-state markets where the UOT advertising campaign runs.  Outdoor Utah owns and maintains a proprietary subscription mailing list of 300,000 households, of which approximately 200,000 are in these key markets.  This distribution of the Adventure Guide supplements the nearly $5 million UOT warm weather advertising media mix.  This arrangement requires an annual recommendation from the department to the UOT Marketing Committee consisting of five members of its Board of Directors.  If committee approval is forthcoming, a motion and vote by the full board is required. If passed, a Memorandum of Understanding between the State of Utah and Outdoor Utah is drafted and signed.

In addition to the out-of-state circulation, the Guide is distributed widely in-state at visitor’s centers, CVB’s, public land management offices, outdoor retail stores, resorts and state welcome centers.  Total press run of 285,000 copies generates an estimated readership of nearly 770,000 annually.

Outdoor Utah is currently owned and operated by Monique Beeley and Red Oelerich.  Beeley has been with the company for ten years and is the publisher, photographer and photo editor of the Adventure Guide.   A Logan native, she currently resides in Park City with her four year old daughter, Kya.  A former ski instructor, Monique participates in all the outdoor activities the company promotes, but lists mountain biking and standup paddleboarding as her favorites.  She sits on the board of directors of Utah Hotel & Lodging Association, Utah Guides & Outfitters Association, Friends of Utah State Parks and is active in Women in Tourism.  The company is also a member of and active in Utah Tourism Industry Coalition, Ski Utah, Visit Salt Lake and Park City CVB.

Red Oelerich joined the company in 1993 as an equity partner and acquired full ownership in 1999.  He and his wife Karen (the Mother Karen of Utah skiwear fame) live in Salt Lake City.  He is editor in chief of the Guide and writes many of the stories and articles.  Two sons, two daughters, along with spouses and seven grandchildren frequently accompany Red and Karen on outdoor adventures statewide.  Red’s favorites are canyoneering and river running and Karen is partial to hiking and road cycling.  Oelerich is a founding member and formerly on the board of directors of Utah Tourism Industry Coalition and was inducted into the Utah Tourism Hall of Fame in 2011.