Thousands expected at Fisher's Landing, El Golfo for Independence Day

Fourth of July is right around the corner and despite high gas prices, thousands of visitors are expected to party at El Golfo de Santa Clara, Son., and at Fisher's Landing on the lower Colorado River.

Charles Bush, general manager at Fisher's Landing Resort, said he has not seen a significant drop in visitation nor a drop in the number of people boating on the lower Colorado River. He expects this Fourth of July to be just as busy as Memorial Day weekend was.

"We expect it to be a pretty good holiday. These people are going to come for the big weekend of Fourth of July," Bush said. "The previous years, economically, things may have gotten a little worse but the big weekends are still going to be big weekends."

So far, this week's average price of regular unleaded gas in Arizona is $4.08 a gallon, according to the AAA Arizona Web site. Linda Gorman, spokeswoman for AAA Arizona, said that current gas prices have hit a plateau but it looks likes they will head high for this upcoming Independence Day partly because of an increase in oil prices. Due to high gas price for the last four months they have seen a 1 percent decline in traveling but they do expect about 40 million people to hit the roads this Fourth of July, she said.

"People just seem to be traveling closer to home," Gorman said.

Bush said he does not have specific counts of visitors at the Fisher's landing resort but said that all parks, campgrounds and boating docks do get filled during the holidays.

Even though there are fewer visitors from California, the number of local visitors are making up for that drop, he said.

"It's closer for the population and it's a cheap trip for them," Bush said. "We are seeing more local participation here."

On the other side of the border, about 5,000 to 7,000 tourists are expected to party on the beaches of El Golfo de Santa Clara, Son., said Paolo Navarro, director of Economic Development and Tourism in Sonora.

During the past Memorial Day Weekend, about 55,000 people roamed the beaches of El Golfo but that number was made up of a combination of people in Mexico celebrating "semana santa" (the Holy Week before Easter) and Americans on spring break.

"It's going to be a long and fun weekend for Americans," Navarro said. "Even though the Fourth of July weekend is an American holiday, it's still important to us," he added.

---

Stephanie Sanchez can be reached at ssanchez@yumasun.com or 539-6847.