Published on : Monday, February 10, 2020
The study, “The Economic Impact of Tourism in Tempe, Arizona,” provides a detailed look at the positive effect of tourism in terms of visitor spending, income, employment and tax revenues in the calendar year 2018. The research shows that 4 million visitors to Tempe in 2018 were responsible for $851.5 million in direct spending on tourism.
According to the research, visitor volume and spending steadily increased from 2015 through 2018. There were 3.7 million visitors to Tempe in 2015 and 4 million in 2018, an increase of 8%. The visitor spending increased dramatically from $730.6 million in 2015 to $851.5 million in 2018.
In this study, visitors are defined as travelers who stayed in overnight accommodations or travelers on a day trip to Tempe. The day trip visitors traveled at least 50 miles to get to Tempe on a trip that was not part of their normal routine. On average, overnight visitors stayed for 3 nights. Overnight visitors spent an average of $299 per trip; day trip visitors spent an average of $68 per trip.
The majority of visitors’ annual spending in Tempe was in food and beverage and retail. Visitors spent $219 million on food and beverage, $184 million on retail shopping, $173 million on local transportation, $171 million on lodging and $102 million on recreation.
In 2018, tourism in Tempe generated $143 million in tax revenues, including $43.2 million in county and city taxes. The tourism sector supported 9,310 jobs in Tempe. That means that one in 14 jobs, or 7% of all jobs in the city, were sustained by tourism.
Tags: tempe, Tempe Tourism