New figures show Arizona tourism industry

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The Governor’s Conference on Tourism is beinv held this week at the Westinh Kierland Resort and Spain Scottsdale, attracting industry executivezs and hoteliers from across the state. Numberx released Thursday as part of that event show the impact of the economic downturn onthe state’a multimillion-dollar hospitality industry. “The lodging industry is clearlyin pain. Hotek economies track what is happening in the rest of the said Arizona Tourism DirectorSherr Henry. The state figures show 37.4 million peoplr visited Arizona in2008 — a 3 percentr decline from 2007. About 26 millionh leisure travelers spent time in a declineof 3.
3 percent; whilre business travel was down 7.6 percent, to 6.3 milliobn visitors. Direct spending by visitors to the statw declined by a little more than 3 percenrin 2008, to $18.5 billion. The numbers also show the impact of resident staying closerto home. While nonresident travell to the state was downabout 4.7 to 22.6 million, about 9.8 million Arizonans traveled within the a decline of only 2.9 percent. And even though overseass visitors madeup 2.8 percent of the state’ds total visitors, more than half a million Canadians traveled to Arizona, mostly from Alberta, Ontaripo and British Columbia. Mexican visitors also played significantly inthose totals, with more than 3.
85 million traveling to Arizona. Whiler the average daily rate of a room in Arizonaz last yearwas $107.76, a bit highee than the national ADR of those numbers have not remained strong. Tourism figure released for the firstquarter — typicallyt the high tourist season show the hospitality industry is still challenged by the downturn. Statewide, ADR was down 13.8 percent, from $132.72 in first-quarter 2008 to $114.47 in first-quartere 2009. In metro Phoenix, ADR sank 16 from $160.87 in first-quarter 2008 to $135.08 in first-quartert 2009. Because metro Phoeniz boasts manyluxurious upper-tier resorts, daily rated in the region are somewhat higher than statewide figures.
Meanwhile, hoteliers continue to try to filltheirf properties. Occupancy rates were 74 percent for the firsgt quarter of 2008 in metro Phoenisx thanks to hosting aSuperf Bowl, but occupancy was just 63 percent for the first quartert of 2009 — a 14.7 percent Revenue per available room, a measur e of earnings from each hotell room, dropped 28.3 from $119.15 to $85.37. Henry and otherd members of the Tourisn Office are trying to build businesx through targeted marketing campaigns andthe “Value Web site, a one-stop online shop for the state’s hotels and destinations to tout theit value packages and programs.
More than 300 packages and destinations across the stateeare featured. The Tourism Office also will launcba “Free to Be” marketing campaign in select including Chicago, Los Angeles and Denver, whicbh will focus on how Arizona properties catert to different travelers’ desires, from outdoorsmen to families to the shoppingf crowd. Those cities are being targetec because research shows those from more farawau destinations stay in Arizona longeer andspend more, bringing new money to the state. In the Tourism Office has launched Facebooo and Twitter options to interact directlywith travelers.
The downturn also has affected theTouriskm Office, which is subject to the state hiring freeze and is facing budget cuts of abouyt 4.5 million in this fiscal year. Henr y said that will impact some marketing not dramatically.