Grand County adds $236,000 summer campaign to boost Moab tourism

Moab’s summer problem is not lack of fame. It is whether the town can keep drawing visitors after the spring rush fades, when the red-rock heat climbs and hotel bookings start to sag. Grand County is now spending an extra $236,000 to see if late-booking travelers, dawn hikers, river days and budget-minded road trippers can fill some of that gap.

The Grand County Commission unanimously approved the campaign on May 19, adding it to a 2026 tourism advertising plan already set at $1.4 million. The work will run through Madden Media, the Moab Office of Tourism’s contracted marketing agency, and is set to launch in June. The Moab Tourism Advisory Board backed the move after its May 12 meeting, where Expedia data showed June reservations pacing 6.1% behind last year’s final June total, July trailing by 25.1% and August by 12.6%. Officials stressed those numbers reflect pace, not final occupancy, but they point to the same familiar summer soft spot.

Michael Soleta, who became director of the Moab Office of Tourism on March 30 after serving as assistant marketing director since July 2024, has framed the goal as flattening the summer curve instead of letting demand bunch up in the busiest months. That matters in Grand County, where lodging, outfitters, restaurants and attractions depend on steady occupancy, but where heat, water stress and heavy use of roads and trails also strain the community when visitation peaks. Utah drought officials warned in May that hot, dry conditions were worsening drought stress on water supplies, wildlife and recreation.

The county says the Moab Office of Tourism is funded entirely by promotional transient room tax revenue. Grand County projects about $8 million in TRT revenue in 2026, with $4.6 million supporting the tourism office and the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission. Its 2026 budget includes $2,128,998 for paid media, and the office also works with Campstories on public relations and Camp4/Tourist on branding and strategy. The tourism office says DiscoverMoab.com gets about 3 million annual visitors, a reminder that the audience is already there, even if the booking window keeps sliding later.

That is the wager behind the new summer push: not to sell a fantasy version of Moab, but to package the real one for people willing to build a trip around heat, timing and flexibility. Arches National Park sits about five miles north of Moab, and the National Park Service already uses timed-entry reservations there during the busy season to ease congestion. Grand County’s campaign is trying to do something similar with marketing, shifting demand into June, July and August without pretending summer in Moab feels like spring.