Arizona's competition is growing even faster. High Value Visitors are key by attracting the nation's highest spending visitor segments. Travelers and tourists assume a large portion of the State's tax burden. The United States Department of Commerce reports that Arizona is the tenth ranked destination for overseas visitors. The total number of hotel rooms in the state expanded from 70,623 in 1994 to 84,821 in 1998 resulting in decreased hotel occupancies which may produce reductions in rates and tax collections.
Tourism is a global business.
Arizona will likely continue to lose market share if significant steps are not taken to make both the State's tourism products and the marketing of its assets more competitive. Chairman Wong requested that Mr. Rickard provide him with detailed information pertaining to the destination marketing dollars spent by the private sector vs. the Arizona Department of Tourism marketing dollars in order to determine an overlap in the effort to attract tourism to the State. Arizona Constitution Click here to return to the A.L.I.S. Home Page.