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A state's image as perceived by its actual and potential tourists plays a significant role in determining its competitiveness as a tourist destination. A state's image influences a tourist's vacation destination decisions. A tourist's image of a given state is influenced by numerous factors including his amount of touring experience within that state, geographical affiliation, demographic profile, vacation characteristics, and the amount and source of tourist information used. Utah was used as a case study to test the viability of the proposed research model. A mail questionnaire requested information concerning 1) attributes of Utah's tourist image considered when choosing a vacation destination, 2) amount of Utah touring experience in Utah, 3) geographical affiliation, 4) demographic profile, 5) characteristics of the vacation and 6) amounts/sources of tourist information used. A sample of 6,000 people was contacted in six geographical regions across the country. A total of 1917 (32%) useable surveys were returned. This research study to identified the components of Utah's tourist image. The study concluded that touring experience in Utah affects their perceptions of Utah's tourist image. Additionally, the study determined that geographical affiliation does influence perceptions of Utah. Finally, it found that age differences and modes of transportation influence perceptions of Utah.

Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) use has grown enormously on Utah’s public lands and is one of the most contentious and difficult issues for federal, state, and local land management agencies to address and provide for. Despite OHV use’s meteoric rise in popularity and its ongoing public conflicts, little is known about OHV recreationists. This thesis develops a typology that identifies within-activity differences related to recreation specialization; it also determines differences in OHV owners’ environmental attitudes and motivations. Findings show Utah’s owners comprise a range of use along the recreation specialization continuum. Results also indicate that an OHV owners’ specialization level is not a significant determinant of either their environmental attitude or four out of the seven given motivations for participation in the activity. Specialization is, however, directly correlated to three specific motivation domains: achievement/stimulation, independence, and meeting new people. Overall, the recreation specialization framework, broadly interpreted, was successfully utilized to develop a typology of use which can inform resource management decisions.