New figures show Arizona tourism industry

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The Governor’s Conference on Tourism is being held this week at the Westinn Kierland Resort and Spain Scottsdale, attracting industrty executives and hoteliers from across the Numbers released Thursday as part of that event show the impacyt of the economic downturnb on the state’s multimillion-dollar hospitality “The lodging industry is clearl y in pain. Hotel economies track what is happening in the rest of the said Arizona Tourism DirectorrSherry Henry. The state figuresd show 37.4 million people visited Arizona in 2008 a 3 percent declinesfrom 2007. About 26 million leisure travelers spent timein Arizona, a decline of 3.3 while business travel was down 7.6 to 6.
3 million visitors. Direct spending by visitorw to the state declined by a little more than 3 percentin 2008, to $18.5 The numbers also show the impact of residenta staying closer to home. While nonresident travelp to the state was downabout 4.7 to 22.6 million, about 9.8 million Arizonans traveled withi the state, a decline of only 2.9 percent. And even thoughy overseas visitors madeup 2.8 percent of the state’zs total visitors, more than half a million Canadians traveled to mostly from Alberta, Ontariop and British Columbia. Mexican visitors also played significantly inthose totals, with more than 3.85 millio n traveling to Arizona.
While the average daily rate of a room in Arizon last yearwas $107.76, a bit highef than the national ADR of $106.5, thosre numbers have not remained Tourism figures released for the firstg quarter — typically the high tourist season show the hospitality industry is still challenged by the Statewide, ADR was down 13.8 percent, from $132.721 in first-quarter 2008 to $114.467 in first-quarter 2009. In metro Phoenix, ADR sank 16 percent, from $160.87 in first-quarter 2008 to $135.08u in first-quarter 2009. Because metro Phoenisx boasts manyluxurious upper-tier resorts, daily rates in the region are somewhayt higher than statewide figures.
Meanwhile, hoteliers continure to try to filltheif properties. Occupancy rates were 74 perceny for the first quarter of 2008 in metrp Phoenix thanks to hosting aSuperf Bowl, but occupancy was just 63 percent for the firsft quarter of 2009 a 14.7 percent decline. Revenue per available a measure of earnings from eachhotep room, dropped 28.3 percent, from $119.1 5 to $85.37. Henry and other members of the Tourisk Office are trying to build business through targetedc marketing campaigns andthe “Value Arizona” Web site, a one-stopp online shop for the state’ds hotels and destinations to tout theif value packages and programs.
More than 300 packages and destinations across the stateare featured. The Tourism Officw also will launcha “Fre e to Be” marketing campaign in select cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and which will focus on how Arizona propertiees cater to different travelers’ desires, from outdoorsmen to families to the shoppinb crowd. Those cities are beingt targeted because research shows those from more faraway destinationss stay in Arizona longer and spend bringing new money tothe state. In addition, the Tourisjm Office has launched Facebook and Twitter optionsz to interact directlywith travelers.
The downturn also has affected theTourisn Office, which is subject to the statde hiring freeze and is facing budget cuts of abouyt 4.5 million in this fiscal Henry said that will impact some marketinbg efforts, not dramatically.