People have started to travel for events starting this past spring, and Surprise is benefiting from surge in tourism.
As outlined in a Oct. 19 presentation, Surprise Sports & Tourism Director Kendra Pettis explained to the City Council during its work session that the coronavirus pandemic led to 75 million fewer people traveling in the U.S. from March through December 2020 than the prior year. That translated to a $20 billion loss for the sports tourism industry nationwide.
However this year, Pettis said, Surprise has seen a 25% increase in bed tax revenue from the last comparable time period, fiscal year 2019. Travel resumption caused the city to refill its event calendar.
