Visit Salt Lake Bestows Annual Tourism Achievement Award Upon Bill Wyatt, Executive Director of the Salt Lake City Department of Airports

Salt Lake City (November 2020) — Visit Salt Lake (VSL) presented its annual Tourism Achievement Award to the Bill Wyatt, Executive Director of Salt Lake City Department of Airports, during its recent 3^rd Quarter Tourism Leadership Luncheon at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Tourism Achievement Award is VSL’s highest honor presented annually to recognize members and community organizations for “outstanding efforts in supporting the mission of VSL and the larger tourism community of Salt Lake County.”

Wyatt and his team recently opened the first phase of The New SLC, Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), a $4 billion infrastructure project vital to the visitor economy. Having started in 2017, a few years into the project, Wyatt oversaw the construction of the new airport while performing his full-time job of operating fully-functional Salt Lake City Airport and directing operations at South Valley Regional Airport and the Tooele Valley Airport. Due to his incredible work, Wyatt was recently named Airport Director of the Year by Airport Experience News.

The new SLC will serve Salt Lake, the State of Utah, and the entire Intermountain region for decades to come, enhancing our competitive advantage of being one of, if not THE, most accessible destinations in North America.

“Through Bill’s leadership and the vision of numerous individuals, Salt Lake can now boast that we’re home to the nation’s first new hub airport built in the 21^st Century,” said Kaitlin Eskelson, VSL President & CEO. “I think it’s important to note that the new airport is financially self-sustaining, and not local tax dollars were spent on it, nor will there be. The entire visitor industry in Utah owes Bill and his team a tremendous debt of gratitude for their tireless work.”

Past recipients of VSL's Tourism Achievement Award include Jack Gallivan; Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.; the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; Tom Guinney, John Williams and Tom Seig of Gastronomy; Earl Holding; Kenneth Knight; Rick Davis; Larry H Miller; the Utah Jazz; Salt Lake City Department of Airports; Valter Nassi; Dennis Copyak of LeBus; the Creators of The Utah Compact; Bishop H. David Burton of the LDS Church; Randy Horiuchi; SMG and Utah Food Services; Robert Farrington; the Utah Sports Commission; and many other business and community leaders.