By Jonathan J. Higuera
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20726mexicovisitors.html
Mexican visitors spent more than $300 million in Pima County last year, helped create 9,600 jobs here and pumped about $5.8 million into local government coffers, according to a study released Thursday.
The statewide study also showed that Pima County is becoming a more popular destination for Mexican visitors. Nearly a third of Mexican nationals who visited the state last year came here - a greater share than any other county.
Spending by those visitors has nearly tripled since 1991, according to the study, commissioned by the city's Tucson-Mexico Trade Office and conducted by the University of Arizona.
The numbers prove just how vital Mexican visitors are to the local economy,
said Augie García, director of the Tucson-Mexico Trade Office.
"We belong to an economic ecosystem that includes Tucson and northwest Mexico," García said. "We need to maintain the momentum. We can't slow down."
Statewide, more than 23 million Mexican residents visited Arizona last year, 96 percent of them from the state of Sonora. While here, they spent an estimated $963 million and helped generate more than 35,000 jobs.
The results surprised researchers because they came during a year in which Mexican visitor traffic to the state dropped by 11 percent. Officials attributed the decline to recessions here and in Mexico, as well as to tougher border entry measures enacted after Sept. 11.
Visitation has stayed strong because more people are coming across the border, even if they aren't spending as much. Average spending per party was $92 last year, a slight dip from 1991's average of nearly $100 per visit.
"The number coming up here are not those setting aside $5,000 or $10,000 for a trip," García said. "Instead, they come five or six times and choose not to shop at border communities but come up a little further."
Many visitors, such as Oscar Amavizca, are visiting often and spending freely. Amavizca, a 29-year-old hotel manager in Hermosillo, Sonora, comes to Tucson with his wife one or two times a month to shop and visit his father, who lives here.
"We have malls here, a Costco and a Wal-Mart" in Hermosillo, he said. "But we like to break the routine and take a drive."
They spend about $250 a visit, far more than the average noted in the study.
"We buy meat, juice and milk but, above all, clothes," he said.
The couple are among the 10.5 million Mexican visitor parties that visited Arizona last year, each averaging 2.2 people. The majority - 72 percent - came to shop. Another 14 percent came for work, while 8 percent came to visit family and friends.
Although Pima County attracted the greatest percentage of Mexican visitors last year, the Phoenix area showed some distinct advantages over Tucson.
First, spending in Maricopa County grew faster than anywhere else in the state, from $16 million in 1991 to $129 million last year. Spending in Tucson grew too, but not as fast - from $109 million to $302 million.
Also, while the vast majority of Mexican visitors to the state - 96 percent - came just for the day, most of those who stayed overnight did so in the Phoenix area. Of visitors to Tucson, 16 percent stayed longer than one night; in Phoenix, the number soared to 88 percent.
Finally, the 1 percent of visitors who spent the most - those who arrived by air, spending an average of $1,300 per trip - usually flew to Phoenix. Pedestrian visitors spent $40 per visit, while those who came by car averaged nearly $100.
Tucson businesses need to find ways to keep visitors here longer, García said.
"We're looking at promoting our medical services more," he said, noting that the study found those who came for medical care often stayed longer. "We also intend to develop air service into Tucson and make them more familiar with our attractions."
Officials hope such measures will help Tucson maintain - and build - its share of visitors.
"The ones that pass us by are the ones that have something to do in Phoenix, or they are after high-end shopping," said Alberta Charney, who along with Vera Pavlakovich-Kochi was the study's lead researcher. "Why else would you drive another 100 miles of boring desert?"
The new La Encantada shopping center, to open in the fall of 2003 at North Campbell Avenue and East Skyline Drive, could help, Charney said. The complex is expected to have many upscale retailers not yet in the Tucson market, such as the home furnishings and accessory stores Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel and Williams-Sonoma.
Shopping already has proved to be a powerful lure. Of Mexican visitors to Tucson last year, 76 percent visited a mall, the study showed. Tucson Mall was the most popular choice, followed by Park Place, Foothills Mall and El Con Mall.
"Our own internal market research shows how important the Mexican visitor is to our business," said Regina Harmon, operations and marketing manager at Foothills Mall. "While Mexican nationals were 5 percent of our traffic, they accounted for 19 percent of our sales."
It's not enough to have shops and services to attract Mexicans, some said; Tucson must spend money to promote them.
"We need to get our marketing dollars into Mexico," said Norma Montaño, general manager of the Best Western Executive Inn, 333 W. Drachman St. "Right now we are only getting one-third of all visitors."
Pima County's market share gain came at the expense of Santa Cruz, Cochise and Yuma counties, which saw their percentages decline.
Visitors "want the variety of bigger cities that they can't get in border communities," Charney said.
The yearlong study used bilingual UA students to interview Mexican visitors as they returned home through international border checkpoints and airports. Similar methods were used in 1991.
* Contact reporter Jonathan J. Higuera at 573-4104 or at higuera@azstarnet.com.
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