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Numbers show Experience Scottsdale fuels Valley of the Sun international tourism

Posted 11/19/19

Scottsdale is attracting nearly 11 million visitors from around the world on an annual basis, a new report commissioned by city officials shows, generating over $3.1 billion in total economic …

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Numbers show Experience Scottsdale fuels Valley of the Sun international tourism

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Scottsdale is attracting nearly 11 million visitors from around the world on an annual basis, a new report commissioned by city officials shows, generating over $3.1 billion in total economic activity in the city’s private sector.

At a November Scottsdale City Council meeting, Experience Scottsdale President & CEO Rachel Sacco presented a quarterly report to the elected officials, touting recent tourism statistics.

Experience Scottsdale, for the past 32 years, has been the city’s destination marketing organization, promoting Scottsdale as a year-round destination.

Ms. Sacco says it is now known that in addition to the vast amount of worldly visitors who come to Scottsdale on an annual basis, 26% of privilege tax collections comes from those out-of-towners.

Moreover, $57.7 million in tax collections are generated by visitors; and 27,062 jobs are attributed to tourism.

These revenues help keep Scottsdale’s property taxes down, and services high, Ms. Sacco says.

Experience Scottsdale, a 501(c)6 nonprofit organization, has a mission to enhance the local community by promoting the Scottsdale area as a luxury destination for meetings, events and leisure travel. Corporate meetings, in particular, have been a goal for the organization, Ms. Sacco says.

“Meetings and conventions are an important part of Scottsdale’s economy. Last year, we booked over 600 meetings and conferences into Scottsdale generating over 200,000 incremental room nights --- that was an all-time high for us,” Ms. Sacco said during her presentation to council.

Choosing Scottsdale

Half of the city’s bed tax --- remits collected from overnight hotel stays --- is allocated to Experience Scottsdale for destination marketing initiatives. The remaining bed-tax revenue is used for tourism-related capital projects, special events and more by the City of Scottsdale.

Ms. Sacco says tourism is, without a doubt, one of Scottsdale’s most vital industries.

But, Ms. Sacco pointed out, all of these visitors must first choose Scottsdale among the bevy of other luxury, affluent vacation and meeting offerings worldwide.

“Before they can come to Scottsdale and start generating that economic revenue, they have to first choose Scottsdale; and that’s where Experience Scottsdale comes in,” Ms. Sacco said.

“Our job is to create that positive brand for the destination. We promote Scottsdale nationally and internationally to audiences that include leisure travelers, travel professionals, meeting planners, as well as the media helping to craft stories that get Scottsdale out there so we are always present and top of mind when someone is thinking ‘Where should I go on vacation?’ or ‘Where should I bring my next meeting?’”

Last year, the Experience Scottsdale team generated over 1,100 media articles seen by over 6 billion people worldwide, Ms. Sacco said, equating to an advertising equivalent of $48 million.

And, a big focus for the travel writers brought in by Experience Scottsdale is Old Town because it’s the “heart and soul” of what makes the city so unique, Ms. Sacco said, giving the content a price tag of $11 million just to talk about that specific area.

The destination marketing organization started their “Absolutely Scottsdale” campaign three years ago, and Ms. Sacco says what was learned back then has been tested and still applies.

“And that is, when people have seen our ads, they told us in research focus groups, they are 25% more inclined to book Scottsdale,” she said, noting a new suite of ads will be released soon. “To remind you, we took perceptions --- actually mis-perceptions --- that people have about the Sonoran Desert and turned it on its ear in this Absolutely Scottsdale campaign.”

The sayings in the ads include: the desert is dry, picturing women drinking dry martinis; the desert is wild, picturing families excitedly hurrying down a desert trail; and the desert is hot, with a couple in a hot air balloon.

One of the goals Experience Scottsdale has been charged with seven years ago is finding people who were traveling during the holidays and convince them Scottsdale should be their holiday getaway.

“Don’t go from New York, all the way, and bypassing us on your way to Hawaii --- Stop in Scottsdale,” Ms. Sacco said.

“Long story short, here we are seven years later, and our occupancy in Scottsdale-area hotels and resorts has increased over 18%.”

By the numbers

Earlier this fall, a new study released by the city’s tourism and events department illustrated the impact of visitors in the Wests Most Western Town.

The study, conducted by Applied Economics, is based on domestic visitor survey data for Scottsdale provided by Longwoods International, as well as tax collection figures, budget data and other information.

This study was the first to include international overnight visitors, estimated to be about 1.7 million in 2018; in addition to the 9.1 million domestic visitors --- equaling 10.8 million total visitors for the year.

The 9.1 million U.S. visitors to Scottsdale in 2018 is up from 8.9 million in 2017, the report stated.

These visitors, through their local spending, created an annual economic impact of $3.1 billion in Scottsdale, the report states.

The report states about 68 percent --- or 3.1 million --- of domestic overnight visitors stay in a resort, hotel or motel in Scottsdale; and the average occupancy rate for market area hotels in 2018 was 70 percent, up from 68.3 percent in 2017.

The remaining 1.5 million overnight visitors stayed with friends or in other accommodations.

A typical domestic overnight traveler to Scottsdale spends about $290, and a typical day-trip visitor spends $70, according to the Scottsdale 2018

Overnight and Day Visitation Report by Longwoods International.

Overnight visitors stay an average of 3.9 nights in Scottsdale, with an average party size of 2.6 people.

The top activities for those who visit the city include shopping, upscale dining, night clubs, visiting historic sites and landmarks, swimming, visiting state parks, museums, casinos, hiking and golf.

Overall, Scottsdale received a fiscal return of about $1.27 from visitors, meaning that for every $1 of municipal service costs attributable to visitors, they received $1.27 in revenues.