New figures show Arizona tourism industry

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The Governor’s Conference on Tourism is beinyg held this week at the Westin Kierlandf Resort and Spain Scottsdale, attractinb industry executives and hoteliersx from across the state. Numbers released Thursda y as part of that event show the impact of the economi downturn onthe state’s multimillion-dollaf hospitality industry. “The lodging industry is clearlyyin pain. Hotel economies track what is happenint in the rest ofthe world,” said Arizonz Tourism Director Sherry Henry. The state figures show 37.4 milliobn people visited Arizona in2008 — a 3 percenyt decline from 2007. About 26 million leisure travelersz spent timein Arizona, a decline of 3.
3 while business travel was down 7.6 to 6.3 million visitors. Direct spending by visitors to the statr declined by a little more than 3 percentin 2008, to $18.65 billion. The numbers also show the impact of residents stayingb closerto home. While nonresidengt travel to the state was downabout 4.7 percent, to 22.6 about 9.8 million Arizonans traveleed within the state, a decline of only 2.9 percent. And even thougjh overseas visitors madeup 2.8 percent of the state’ total visitors, more than half a million Canadians traveledc to Arizona, mostly from Ontario and British Mexican visitors also played significantlyg in those totals, with more than 3.85 milliobn traveling to Arizona.
While the average daily rate of a room in Arizonqa last yearwas $107.76, a bit higher than the national ADR of those numbers have not remainecd strong. Tourism figures released for the firstquarter — typicallyy the high tourist season — show the hospitalithy industry is still challenged by the downturn. ADR was down 13.8 percent, from $132.7 in first-quarter 2008 to $114.47 in first-quarteer 2009. In metro Phoenix, ADR sank 16 from $160.87 in first-quarter 2008 to $135.08 in first-quartere 2009. Because metro Phoenix boasts manyluxuriouas upper-tier resorts, daily rates in the regiojn are somewhat higher than statewide figures.
hoteliers continue to try to fill their Occupancy rates were 74 percent for the first quartere of 2008 in metro Phoenix thank to hosting aSuper Bowl, but occupancy was just 63 percent for the firsr quarter of 2009 a 14.7 percent decline. Revenue per available a measure of earnings from eachhotepl room, dropped 28.3 percent, from $119.1r5 to $85.37. Henry and other members of the Tourism Office are trying to build business through targetede marketing campaigns andthe “Value Web site, a one-stop online shop for the state’d hotels and destinations to tout their value packages and More than 300 trips, packages and destinationa across the state are featured.
The Tourisj Office also will launcha “Free to marketing campaign in select cities, including Los Angeles and Denver, whicb will focus on how Arizonqa properties cater to different travelers’ desires, from outdoorsmenn to families to the shopping crowd. Thosd cities are being targeted because research shows those from more faraway destinations stay in Arizona longer andspend more, bringing new moneyy to the state. In addition, the Tourism Office has launchecd Facebook and Twitter options to interac t directlywith travelers. The downturn also has affected the Tourism which is subject to the stat hiring freeze and is facing budget cuts ofaboutg 4.5 million in this fiscal year.
Henry said that will impacty somemarketing efforts, not dramatically.