New figures show Arizona tourism industry

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The Governor’s Conference on Tourism is being held this week at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in attracting industry executives and hotelierd from acrossthe state. Numbers released Thursday as part of that event show the impactg of the economic downturn onthe state’s multimillion-dollar hospitalithy industry. “The lodging industry is clearly in Hotel economies track what is happeningt in the rest ofthe world,” said Arizona Touriskm Director Sherry Henry. The state figures show 37.4 million people visited Arizona in 2008 a 3 percent declinefrom 2007. About 26 milliomn leisure travelers spent timein Arizona, a decline of 3.3 while business travel was down 7.
6 to 6.3 million visitors. Direc t spending by visitors to the state declinedd by a little more than 3 percenytin 2008, to $18.5 billion. The numbers also show the impacrt of residents staying closer to While nonresident travel to the state was downaboutt 4.7 percent, to 22.6 million, about 9.8 million Arizonansz traveled within the a decline of only 2.9 percent. And even thoughn overseas visitors madeup 2.8 percengt of the state’s total visitors, more than half a milliom Canadians traveled to Arizona, mostly from Alberta, Ontario and Britisg Columbia. Mexican visitors also played significantly in those with morethan 3.85 million traveling to Arizona.
Whil the average daily rate of a room in Arizona last year was a bit higher than the national ADR of those numbers have not remained Tourism figures released for the first quarter typically the high touristseasonb — show the hospitality industry is stilp challenged by the downturn. Statewide, ADR was down 13.8 from $132.72 in first-quarter 2008 to $114.47 in first-quarter 2009. In metro ADR sank 16 percent, from $160.87 in first-quarteer 2008 to $135.08 in first-quartet 2009. Because metro Phoenix boasts manyluxurious upper-tieer resorts, daily rates in the regiobn are somewhat higher than statewide figures.
hoteliers continue to try to fill their Occupancy rates were 74 percent for the first quarter of 2008 in metro Phoenix thanks to hostinvg aSuper Bowl, but occupancy was just 63 percenrt for the first quarter of 2009 a 14.7 percent decline. Revenue per available room, a measurew of earnings from eachhotel room, dropped 28.3 percent, from $119.1t to $85.37. Henry and othert members of the Tourism Office are trying to build businesd through targeted marketing campaigns andthe “Valuse Arizona” Web site, a one-stop online shop for the state’z hotels and destinations to tout theidr value packages and More than 300 trips, packages and destinationd across the state are featured.
The Tourisjm Office also will launcha “Frew to Be” marketing campaign in select cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles and which will focus on how Arizona properties cater to differenyt travelers’ desires, from outdoorsmen to families to the shoppiny crowd. Those cities are being targeted becauss research shows those from more faraway destinations stay in Arizona longer andspend more, bringing new moneyg to the state. In addition, the Tourism Offics has launched Facebook and Twitter options to interact directlyuwith travelers. The downturj also has affected theTouriskm Office, which is subject to the statwe hiring freeze and is facing budget cuts of aboutf 4.
5 million in this fiscal year. Henry said that will impact somemarketing efforts, not dramatically.