TUCSON CAN OVERCOME SPRING TRAINING LOSS, TOURISM OFFICIAL SAYS

posted by Michael Chihak

Tucson will be without spring training baseball this year for the first time in more than six decades.

Local economists estimated that when the city had three teams, just two years ago, their presence helped pump $30 million into the economy.

All three teams are gone now, lost to bigger, better and newer ballparks and other incentives in the Phoenix area.

Sherry Henry, executive director of the Arizona Office of Tourism, said this week she believes Tucson officials will use their creativity to replace the economic impact. She mentioned talks with professional baseball organizations in Japan and Korea and an alliance with the San Diego Padres AAA minor league team, to be known at least this coming season as the Tucson Padres.

No announcements have been made about foreign teams coming to Tucson, and the Padres are scheduled to be here for just this year, awaiting the construction of a new facility in suburban San Diego.

The $30 million in losses to the economy is a small amount, about one-tenth of 1 percent of Pima County's GDP.

But because the save baseball movement involved a cadre of recognizable Tucson business and civic leaders, from elected officials to leaders of the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, it's a blow to the collective ego that their efforts fell short.

QUESTIONS FOR TOURISM, HOSPITALITY OFFICIALS

posted by Michael Chihak

Here are some of the questions we will ask in our interviews today:

Is the 2011 tourism season in Arizona expected to rebound from the downturn of the last three years?

The Tucson Gem and Mineral shows and the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament are going on this week. How do they look for drawing visitors to get the season off to a good start?

Tucson will be without spring training baseball for the first time in more than 60 years. It's estimated to be a $30 million loss to the local economy. Will other attractions take up the slack, or is that a loss to Tucson?

And the Phoenix area has all the Major League teams in the state for this spring. Will there be a boost from that?

Is this week's cold weather having an impact? What about all the cold weather in other parts of the country -- is that chasing people to Arizona?

How important is the winter visitor season for Arizona's restaurants?

Are there pockets of the state doing better or worse than others when it comes to restaurant business?

'WE'RE JUST NOT LOOKING GOOD TO PEOPLE'

posted by Michael Chihak

An Arizona tourist industry rebound from the recession-driven malaise of the last three years may rest with what outsiders think of the state, a prominent Tucson restaurateur suggests.

Arizona's passage of Senate Bill 1070, which many call the nation's strongest law against illegal immigrants, and a subsequent call for a boycott of the state, which U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, endorsed, had a negative effect on the state's image, El Charro Cafe's Carlotta Flores said in an interview today.

"The Grijalva boycott put an arrow through us," Flores said. "SB1070 had the same effect. We're just not looking good to people."

Flores and her family operate El Charro Cafe in downtown Tucson, which at 89 years is the city's oldest continuously operated restaurant. They also run four other Mexican restaurants and related food operations in the Tucson metropolitan area.

She said the poor year that the tourism industry had in 2010 "is lapping over into 2011. We can see it in all that is happening."

She said she hopes the start of the Tucson Gem and Mineral shows last weekend will be a boost for local restaurants and tourism-related businesses, and there are early signs that it is busier this year than last.

At the same time, Flores said, Tucson must absorb the loss of spring training baseball, which some economists estimated made a $30 million contribution to the local economy each year. This is the first year since 1947 that Tucson hasn't had a Major League baseball team for spring training.

"Everything is different now," Flores said. "It used to be the season was five months. But now, you're hoping that February, March and April are good enough to get you through the long, hot summer."