The departure of the Sundance Film Festival from Park City after the 2026 edition will have widespread impacts on the community, including the loss of what has for decades been one of the most lucrative stretches of the year.The lodging, restaurant and transportation industries typically post especi ally strong numbers during the festival, which on Thursday announced it will move to Boulder, Colorado, beginning in 2027 after having been held in Park City since the 1980s. Sundance selected the home of the University of Colorado over a combined effort by Park City and Salt Lake City and a bid by Cincinnati.The festival in 2024 generated $138.3 million in spending, an economic report showed afterward. Lodging, the top category of spending, accounted for $38.7 million while $37.9 million was spent on recreation and entertainment. Almost as much, $37.4 million, was spent on meals. People from outside of Utah spent an average of $735 per day while they were at Sundance.There will be a hit to various sectors of the tourism industry that drives the Park City economy, from luxury hotels on the slopes to nightly rentals in neighborhoods and from top Main Street restaurants to budget dining options in Prospector. The side industry of temporary corporate rentals of storefronts and other spaces, typically in the Main Street core, meanwhile, will disappear without Sundance. The corporations transform the spaces into product showcases. Some of the rental agreements are believed to reach toward six figures.Even with the loss of festival business, there are some in Park City who expect the community’s economy will remain resilient during the weeks in January when Sundance is held.“It’s been great for Park City. Something will replace Sundance. I don’t know what it’s going to be. But it will be there for that time period,” said Mike Sweeney, a longtime businessman whose family owns the Town Lift Plaza along lower Main Street.The Town Lift Plaza oftentimes was the location of temporary Sundance setups involving corporations seeking the visibility of Main Street for marketing purposes during one of the top film festivals on the international circuit.Sweeney also said the community attracts more skiers and snowboarders nowadays in January than it did years ago. Something that, he said, could help boost business without the Sundance crowds in Park City.“Will Main Street survive? The answer is ‘Absolutely yes,'” he said.Michael Kaplan has offered rentals for years in sought-after Old Town during Sundance. He said interest in the places and the prices he can charge the crowds visiting for Sundance have been consistently dropping. He said there were vacancies this year during the festival.“I’ve long since stopped having a premium price for Sundance because Sundance hasn’t been showing up for years now,” he said, adding, “Ten years ago, it was one of the best weeks of the year.”Kaplan said his rental business during the opening weekend of Sundance, usually the most crowded time, is 20% of what it once was.“It used to be crazy…That’s all gone away,” he said.The post Festival loss will hit Park City tourism economy, but ‘something will replace Sundance’ appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less