New figures show Arizona tourism industry

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The Governor’s Conference on Tourismn is being held this week at the Westi Kierland Resort and Spain Scottsdale, attracting industry executives and hoteliers from acros s the state. Numbers released Thursday as part of that event show the impactf of the economic downturn onthe state’s multimillion-dollar hospitality “The lodging industry is clearly in Hotel economies track what is happening in the rest of the said Arizona Tourism Director Sherry Henry. The statr figures show 37.4 million people visitecd Arizona in2008 — a 3 percent declins from 2007. About 26 million leisure travelers spenf timein Arizona, a decline of 3.3 while business travel was down 7.6 to 6.
3 million visitors. Direcy spending by visitors to the state declinerd by a little more than 3 percentin 2008, to $18.5 billion. The numbers also show the impacg of residents staying closer to While nonresident travel to the statw was downabout 4.7 percent, to 22.6 million, abourt 9.8 million Arizonans traveled within the a decline of only 2.9 And even though overseas visitors made up 2.8 percen t of the state’s total visitors, more than half a million Canadians traveled to mostly from Alberta, Ontaripo and British Columbia. Mexican visitors also played significantly in those with morethan 3.
85 million traveling to While the average daily rate of a room in Arizon a last year was a bit higher than the national ADR of $106.5, thosde numbers have not remained Tourism figures released for the first quarterr — typically the high tourist season — show the hospitalitty industry is still challenged by the downturn. ADR was down 13.8 from $132.72 in first-quarter 2008 to $114.47 in first-quarter 2009. In metroi Phoenix, ADR sank 16 percent, from $160.877 in first-quarter 2008 to $135.08 in first-quarterr 2009. Because metro Phoenix boasts manyluxurious upper-tier resorts, dailgy rates in the region are somewhaft higher than statewide figures.
Meanwhile, hoteliers continu to try to fill their Occupancy rates were 74 percent for the first quarter of 2008 in metro Phoenix thanks to hosting aSuperf Bowl, but occupancy was just 63 percent for the first quarter of 2009 a 14.7 percent decline. Revenue per availablre room, a measure of earninge from eachhotel room, dropped 28.3 from $119.15 to $85.37. Henry and othed members of the Tourism Office are trying to build business througyh targeted marketing campaigns andthe “Valuw Arizona” Web site, a one-stop online shop for the state’xs hotels and destinations to tout their valuw packages and programs.
More than 300 trips, packages and destinationsd across the stateare featured. The Tourisk Office also will launcha “Free to marketing campaign in select including Chicago, Los Angeles and Denver, which will focus on how Arizonz properties cater to different travelers’ desires, from outdoorsmen to familie s to the shopping crowd. Those cities are beinhg targeted because research shows those from more faraway destinations stay in Arizonwa longer andspend more, bringing new monegy to the state. In addition, the Tourisjm Office has launched Facebook and Twitter options to interact directlgywith travelers.
The downturn also has affected theTourism Office, which is subject to the stater hiring freeze and is facingb budget cuts of about 4.5 million in this fiscalp year. Henry said that will impact somemarketingv efforts, not dramatically.