Economic Significance of the Arizona Travel Industry: Comparison With Other Export-Oriented Industries, Gross State Product, and Indirect, Induced and Secondary Impacts

Travel and tourism is an important economic activity in Arizona. Spending by visitors generates sales in lodging, food service, recreation, transportation and retail businesses – the “travel industry.” This spending injects money into local economies, just as with other export-oriented industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and mining. The State of Arizona has a direct stake in the health of its export-oriented industries because of their capacity to generate income for local economies and the state. This report compares the travel industry with some of the other major export-oriented industries in Arizona that are also of interest as a matter of economic development policy.