International travel to Arizona has surpassed pre-pandemic levels during the summer and at a higher rate than the other three southern border states.
The number of travelers coming into Arizona through a port of entry either by land or plane surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time in April, at nearly 2 million travelers compared to about 1.9 million in April of 2019, according to data from Customs and Border Protection.
âArizonaâs tourism industry continues to do an outstanding job of marketing our stateâs amazing experiences and wide-open spaces to leisure travelers,â said Debbie Johnson, director of the Arizona Office of Tourism in a statement. âThereâs strong competition and plenty of work ahead, but weâre very happy that visitors are seeing and selecting Arizona as one of their favorite vacation destinations.â
Arizona is the only southern border state that sustained higher-than-pre-pandemic levels through July, the last month with available data. And its increase in travelers is a higher percentage than in any other border state.
Nearly 16 million international travelers crossed into Arizona from April through July, more than 3.6% higher than in those months in 2019. New Mexico saw a 2.25% increase while international travelers to Texasâ border region during those months remained more than 1% lower than in 2019 and Californiaâs was more than 7% lower.
This federal data includes people coming to the state as tourists and those who cross the border for things like jobs, doctor visits and commercial trade, meaning this data represents economic impacts in more than just the tourist industry and beyond Arizona.
Both exports and imports through Arizona border ports are well above preâpandemic levels as well, according to data analysis from the University of Arizona Eller College of Management.
The rebound in tourism has to do with the investment in marketing as well as Arizonaâs outdoor recreation opportunities, including more than 50 state and national parks and recreation areas, says Arizona Office of Tourism spokesman Josh Coddington.
âArizona is blessed to have a lot of varied terrain that you can visit, a lot of different types of landscapes and areas, from desert parts of the state all the way to Flagstaff and northern Arizona,â he said.
Spending, overnight stays
Tourism to Arizona has been rebounding since 2021.
Data comparisons from 2021 show the stateâs recovery of both visitor spending and overnight stays outpaced the national average, according to research released by the Arizona Office of Tourism in July.
In 2021, overnight visitors spent $23.6 billion across the state, which was equivalent to 92% of the all-time high in 2019, compared to visitor spending being 76% of 2019 levels nationwide.
Although this research has not been conducted on 2022 numbers yet, there is some 2022 data available that shows pandemic recovery is still tentative.
Despite the number of international travelers entering the state being above pre-pandemic levels, overall visitor spending was still below in July. Visitors to the state, domestic and international, spent $1.5 billion this July, compared to $1.78 billion last July and $1.6 billion in July 2019, according to data provided by the Arizona Office of Tourism.
Coddington attributed this in part to pent-up travel demand leading to more people traveling earlier in the year.
Total overnight visitation, including domestic, showed similar results as spending, with 40.9 million visitors to Arizona in 2021, equaling 87% of the 2019 level, compared to 85% of 2019 levels nationwide.
The 2021 research shows that international overnight visitation remained heavily impacted by the pandemic. Three million international visitors chose Arizona as an overnight destination in 2021. While that number was more than in 2020, it was just 51% of 2019 levels.
Of those 3 million overnight visitors in 2021, 2.5 million were from Mexico, compared to about 3.8 million in 2019.
Mexican spending important to economy
Mexican visitors account for the largest portion of all spending by international travelers to the state.
âWeâve been working hard to rebuild international tourism, and Mexican visitors are really critical to Arizona because they account for one-third of all spending by international visitors,â Coddington said.
The nonprofit Visit Tucson has arranged a series of events to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month, from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The inaugural year of ÂĄViva Tucson! kicked off Thursday night with a free Mexican Independence Day Concert with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra at the Fox Theatre, hosted in coordination with the Mexican Consulate in Tucson.
Visit Tucson expects a lot of out-of-town visitors to come for the month of events, says spokeswoman Megan Evans.
âThere are Hispanic cultural elements that are omnipresent in Tucsonâs food, art, music, events and the sense of community, so it makes sense for us to create cohesion among all of those events,â she said. âIt made sense for us to connect them all together to create Viva Tucson so that people can really look at our destination as being one that is super cutting edge and welcoming to people from all countries, but specifically, our Latin American and Mexican friends.â
For a full list of events go to visittucson.org/viva.
