Study: Tourism spending up for state, Yuma

Arizona is once again becoming a popular place for tourists, and Yuma County is sharing in that wealth.

Visitors spent $616 million in Yuma County last year, an increase of 6.2 percent over 2010, according to a statewide study by Dean Runyan Associates for the Arizona Office of Tourism that was released this week. The tourism industry also resulted in 6,330 jobs in 2011 for Yuma, the highest level since 2006.

“Obviously we're delighted,” said Ann Walker, spokeswoman for the Yuma Visitors Bureau. “It's great to see the numbers are up and the trend is positive.”

In comparison, tourists in Yuma County spent $590.5 million in 2006, $605.7 million in 2008 and $566.3 million in 2010.

However, Walker said, the newest report wasn't “particularly surprising,” given that Yuma's hotel occupancy rates have been up for 14 months in a row through February.

And the city of Yuma's hospitality tax revenue has also been on the upswing, she noted.

Tourism is considered the third major leg of the Yuma area's economy.

To help local businesses capture more of that business, a forum next week will focus on the tourism industry, its economic impact and marketing efforts.

The free forum, Know Yuma Inside & Out, will be held from 7 to 8 a.m. Thursday at the Yuma City Council Chambers, Yuma City Hall, One City Plaza. Speakers will include Sherry Henry, executive director of the Arizona Office of Tourism; Linda Jordan, executive director of the Yuma Visitors Bureau; and Susan Sternitzke, executive director of Limelight Creative Group and Yuma representative for the Tourism Alliance Council.

Statewide, Runyan's study shows that spending by visitors to the state last year is approaching pre-recession levels. Tourists — business and recreational — dropped $18.3 billion in Arizona last year.

That figure, which translates out to about $50 million a day, is just 3 percent below what visitors to Arizona were spending in 2007.

The biggest share of all that spending was for food, at $4 billion. Visitors also spent $3.1 billion on gasoline and local transportation and spent another $2.8 million buying various items at retail outlets.

Not surprisingly, most of the coin was dropped in Maricopa County. But even Graham and Greenlee counties, combined for purposes of the study, managed to grab hold of $47 million of tourist dollars.

One out of every seven overnight visitors was from outside this country, with the nearest neighbors generating the most travel, according to Runyan's study.

Canadian travel hit 21 million. That's a 5.4 percent increase over 2010.

But the 13.4 million visitors from Mexico is a slight decline from the year before.

The United Kingdom, Japan and Germany were next in line for Arizona visitors — followed by 1.5 million Brazilians. While that number is not much by itself, it is a 25 percent increase from the prior year, and far more than double tourists from Brazil in 2007.

Arizona also is apparently an increasingly popular destination for residents of China, where tourism has doubled since 2007.

Kiva Couchon, spokeswoman for the tourism office, said that has less to do with Arizona than what is happening in the home countries.

“They have had tremendous growth in their middle class and their economies are more strong and stable than they have been in previous years,'' she said. “So you're seeing more travel activity and consumers being more comfortable in spending money on travel.''

Couchon also said Brazil is now part of the U.S. government's visa waiver program, making it easier for residents there to come here. And the Chinese government, she said, has been easing travel restrictions for its citizens.

Still, Arizona has a long way to go to become the must-see place for international tourists.

New York topped the list, bagging more than a third of foreign visitors, followed by California at 22 percent and Florida at 20 percent. Arizona's share of that market was just 3.1 percent.

The increase in tourism has allowed Arizona's hotel and motel owners to try to make some money by raising their rates.

According to the study, the average daily rate in 2011 was $95.23. That is up 2.8 percent from the prior year — but still close to 10 percent below what it was in 2007.

Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, contributed to this report.

2011 Travel Spending by County (in millions)
County                       amount        change from prior yr
Apache                        $138              6.2%
Cochise                       $330              (1.6%)
Coconino    `                $1,011            5.8%
Gila                             $227               2.6%
Graham & Greenlee        $40                11.0%
La Paz                        $211               11.4%
Maricopa                     $11,161            5.9%
Mohave                      $462                 7.1%
Navajo                       $287                 7.4%
PIma                         $2,398               3.8%
Pinal                         $507                  7.7%
Santa Cruz                 $211               (10.0%)
Yavapai                     $677                  5.5%
Yuma                        $616                   6.2%

-- Source: Dean Runyan Associates thru Arizona Office of Tourism

Where foreign tourists to Arizona come from

Country        number in millions    change from prior yr

Canada                21.0                   5.4%
Mexico                 13.4                   0.1%
U.K.                      3.8                   0.4%
Japan                    3.2                   4.0%
Germany                1.8                   5.7%
Brazil                     1.5                 25.9%
France                   1.5                 12.1%
South Korea            1.1                  3.4%
China*                   1.1                 35.9%
Australia                 1.0                14.8%
*excludes Hong Kong
negative numbers in parentheses

-- Source: Arizona Office of Tourism