St. George, Utah — The secret is out.
There was a time years ago when this city, the hub of Utah’s Greater Zion region, was a sleepy hamlet, but those years have long since passed. In recent years, Greater Zion, in the state’s southwest corner, has become one of the hottest destinations in the American West for tourists and young families looking to relocate. The numbers back that up.
Colby Cowan, director of golf for the city’s four courses, has lived in St. George 22 years and recalled when it was “a little gas-station town on Interstate-15.” Folks passing by on their way to Las Vegas or Los Angeles would stop, refuel and hop back on the highway.
Over time, however, those folks got curious. The lure of Zion National Park and four remarkable state parks was too compelling, particularly for young thrill-seekers searching for new adventures. Greater Zion offered the possibility, within the space of a few days, of unforgettable outdoor pursuits: make the cliffhanging Angeles Landing hike through Zion National, go rock climbing in Snow Canyon or kayaking at Gunlock, race mountain bike at Quail Creek, go cliff jumping or scuba diving at Sand Hollow, or race ATVs across the buttes and through the canyons of Sand Mountain. Your imagination is the only limitation on the outdoor activities you can enjoy.
That landscape also provides the backdrop for what is arguably the most-underrated golf destination in the southwest United States. Thirteen courses are clustered within a 20-mile radius, including six of Golfweek’s top 10 Best Courses You Can Play in the state. The must-plays are headlined by Sand Hollow Golf Course, the perennial No. 1 in Utah. Golfers, who always are searching for the next big thing, also will want to check out Copper Rock Golf Course, which opens this spring.
“When you think of Utah, a lot of people think of mountains and snow,” Cowan said. “But we’re in the southwest corner of the state, so you can play golf year-round. We have a similar topography to Sedona (Arizona), but with a better winter climate.”
The numbers tell the story of Greater Zion’s skyrocketing tourism. In 2018, some 216,000 out-of-towners visited the region on golf vacations. An increasing number of them flew directly into St. George Regional Airport, which is growing exponentially. In 2018, nearly 278,000 travelers used the airport, more than twice the passenger count when the airport opened in 2011.
Zion National, the seventh-most-visited federal park in 2018, remains the biggest attraction, but increasingly, visitors find themselves drawn to the state parks. They combined to draw more than 1 million visitors in 2018, with three of the parks posting strong double-digit visitor increases.
All of those new visitors need a place to stay, which is why 1,800 new rooms have been added to the region’s lodging inventory over just the past three years.
Here’s the most interesting long-term trend: Many of those visitors are buying homes and staying in the Greater Zion area. In recent years, St. George consistently has ranked among the fastest-growing metropolitan markets in the country, even topping the U.S. Census Bureau’s list two years ago. The presence of Tuacahn Amphitheatre, nestled spectacularly into Padre Canyon north of St. George, along with museums, new restaurants and spas, help to ensure that all of those tourists and new residents will have plenty of entertainment even when they’re not chasing their next adrenaline-spiking moment in the parks or on the golf courses.
Savvy travelers have discovered Greater Zion. Isn’t it time you did as well?