Tucson and Arizona in general rely on the big three industries for the bulk of our economic development. Read the post HERE. Tourism, construction and the government sector are the 800 lb gorillas that fuel our local economy. With two out of three of our local drivers in the tank it’s going to be a long winter.

Read the Oct. 27th AZ Republic article HERE.

The weak economy, stumbling stock market and airline flight cuts have crimped travel to the area at a time when new hotels are adding to the room supply at a rate well above the national average.

Hotels around the country are hurting, or at least starting to see a slowdown, leading to the recent national sales launched by Hyatt, Starwood and other large hotel chains to spur business.

The pain is especially acute in metropolitan Phoenix, a major vacation and meetings destination that accounts for $10 billion of the $17 billion in annual visitor spending in the state.

Many of the trips to Phoenix are discretionary compared with trips to, say, New York and other major business centers that have a steady stream of corporate travelers flying in and out routinely in good times and bad.

Reduction in tourism translates into reduction in tourism related taxes like the bed tax, rental car tax and RV taxes. The influx of tourist dollars into our economy  is a multi billion industry. Let’s hope economic troubles facing the US and the world work themselves out before next seasons travelers decide on a staycation.