Arizona Ranked 17th In Tourism

by Nick Coons
Nov 5, 2005

The studies are in, and event though tourism is a huge industry for us here in Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

, we ranked only 17th in the country. The states taking the top spots are California and Florida, which brought in six times more cash.

East Valley tourism experts are saying lack of advertising and marketing is the reason, but that with the amount of marketing budget available that we're doing just fine.

Another reason is because many of the attractions in Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

aren't man-made, they're natural People hiking through the mountains or site-seeing our beautiful scenary aren't the same people that would normally spend large amounts of money in a gallery or on expensive meals. This type of tourism popularity can be difficult to track since they are not normally accompanied by any particular types of purchases.

One of the solutions would be to create more man-made attractions, theme parks, etc. Put money in, and we'll get money back out.

There's a huge problem with that. How many people living in Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

want it to be like Las Vegas or California? I can only speak for myself when I say "absolutely not," but I would imagine that the vast majority of people would agree. If we rank 17th in tourism revenue, so what? Arizona

Arizona	(air-i'-ZON-u')
The State of Arizona comprises the extreme south-western portion of the United States. It is bounded on the north by Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by Mexico, and on the west by California and Nevada.

is a great place, and we don't need to make any changes to get more people to visit, even if it's agreed that we want more people here. Can you imagine the traffic?