TOURISM IS BIG INDUSTRY IN YUMA

VISIT YUMA CELEBRATES NATIONAL TRAVEL AND TOURISM WEEK

TOURISM IS IMPORTANT

to Yuma County. It helped this community through the pandemic with success in Yuma that many communities around the country didn’t experience.

It can be an industry that sometimes we take for granted, but its consistency provides a solid economic footing for our community. But what is the Tourism Industry, and who works in it? The Tourism Industry encompasses everything from hotels, restaurants, bars, parks, attractions, airline industry, cabs, Ubers and even meetings and events! Sometimes because it’s so big, it can be easy for us to overlook it.

In Yuma County, tourism employs over 5,000 people. In 2022 our hotels sold 902,403 room nights bringing in over $105 million in sales, and our many incredible restaurants and bars had over $438 million in sales.

This past year, the City of Yuma passed the Hospitality Tax, which charges 2% at hotels, restaurants, and bars.

That tax brings in over $8 million in taxes annually and funds Visit Yuma, the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area – with 80% of it going to our incredible parks. The collection of this tax allows a direct relief on the average Yuma household – because the taxes are collected from our visitors. And we each pay it too, as we eat in our Yuma city restaurants – and we each benefit by having incredible parks which host family

activities, amazing events and help make Yuma a special place.

This is the 40th year US Travel is celebrating National Travel and Tourism Week – and Visit Yuma celebrates with US Travel, because we should be proud of our industry in Yuma.

The Travel Industry is pivotal to the success of Yuma and it’s going to be pivotal to the future growth of our community. We must remind ourselves that a traveler visiting Yuma for the first time is someone who will fall in love with this community, then they will be inspired to buy Yuma grown at their local grocery stores, or we hope that it would inspire them to become our neighbors and friends and move to Yuma and help grow the future of Yuma.

Tourism is unique that is something that helps put us in the moment, it allows us to appreciate the world around us, but tourism is always looking forward and this year, for US Travel’s 40th National Travel and Tourism Week on May 7-13 we ask that you #TravelForward with Visit Yuma!