Article: Tourism U: Local Universities Offer Tourism Centers

Tourism U: Local Universities Offer Tourism Centers

February 2009, Arizona Business Magazine, By Noelle Coyle

If you think tourism isn't a serious business - think again. With so many millions of dollars at stake, the Arizona Tourism Alliance has made it a priority to educate lawmakers and the general public about how much tourism contributes to the state's economy. To that end, the ATA relies on work conducted at Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University's tourism centers.

Established in 1989 by the state legislature, the Arizona Hospitality Research and Resources Center at NAU was the first organization to conduct research on Arizona's tourism industry. Since then, the Arizona Office of Tourism has created an in-house research group, but the AHRRC continues to work in the public and private sectors.

AHRRC conducts research, surveys and economic impact studies. Municipal entities AOT, ATA and tribal communicates have all enlisted NAU's tourism center for surveys on "market research" to help understand who the customer is and how to develop their product," say Cheryl Cothran, director of the AHRRC. The center also helps train the hospitality industry work force through partnerships with community colleges across the state.

Tourism is the second largest export industry behind microelectronics," Cothran says. "It's interesting to (look at tourism) in that perspective. ... It produces a disproportionate collection of tax incentives and jobs, so it's just hugely important to Arizona in many ways."

To illustrate an example of what the center offers, Cothran cites a case study the AAHRC performs every five years for Arizona State Parks.

"We process all of their data and write the reports to understand who visits those parks, and how the parks might adapt to accommodate the wants and desires of visitors better," she says.

Studies conducted by the AHRRC are especially important to rural Arizona, which required a different marketing strategy than the Valley.

"Rural has... unique things that people come for all over the world to see," Cothran says. "If Arizona didn't have the Grand Canyon, our (tourism) industry would be much smaller. We think of tourism as being important in Phoenix, but it's actually a more important party of the economy within rural communities. Phoenix has a more diversified economy, (but) much of rural Arizona is tourism-based."

Located on ASU's downtown Phoenix campus is the Megapolitan Tourism Research Center, which has been in the development stage for two years before if officially opened its doors in November 2007. The MTRC's purpose is also to conduct research and offer educational programs that contribute to the success of tourism. However, the research portion takes things a step further by looking at the broad impact tourism has on communities and the state.

Timothy Tyrrell is director of the MTRC and professor of community resources and development in the College of Public Programs at ASU. He has nearly 30 years experience as a tourism economist at the University of Rhode Island and ASU, and has conducted numerous impact studies.

"Each one has another component besides the generation of visitors, tourism profits, tax revenues, employment - there was always something else, such as social impact, environmental impact and different ways the tourism industry links directly to the community and the way it runs," he says.

The center focuses its research on Arizona's megapolitan region known as the Sun Corridor, which stretches from the Prescott Valley in the north to Nogales in the south. Tyrrell says the corridor's rise in commuting, migration and transportation of goods and services makes it a prime area to study.

"It makes sense form a planning point of view (because) megapolitan areas will eventually replace metropolitan areas as planning areas for the government," he says.

Thanks to the center's research, Tyrrell oversaw the launch of a monthly Sun Corridor Tourism Barometer. The barometer is the first of its kind developed for a megapolitan region and measure the health of the tourism industry and tracks the expansion of one of the fastest growing megapolitan areas in the U.S. The Sun Corridor includes nearly one-fifth of Arizona's land mass, yet contains approximately 80 percent of its population.

In addition, under Tyrrell's leadership the center quickly amassed a multitude of notable achievements, hosting a third Safety and Security Conference and launching an online CMP study guide with Meeting Professionals International this past summer.

Tyrrell plans to connect the dots between tourism and key issues such as the environment, public safety, water resources, transportation and poverty. The center has already hosted three conferences on the relationship between tourism and public safety officials, and how the two can work together in a crisis and to ease poverty.

"With regard to poverty, the tourism industry hires people at almost every level - Ph.D.s and CPAs, all the way down to unskilled laborers," he says. "(There is) potential for alleviating poverty. If you study the developing countries, you see that tourism plays a big role in generating income."

Together with the ATA, ASU's tourism center will be able to study important factors in the industry, and help make communities more effective in a variety of aspects through its research and education efforts.

"This industry is... such a huge economic engine," Tyrrell says. "We can use it more efficiently to do the public good."

And with the feeble economy, the tourism industry has become more important than ever for Arizona.

"The economic downturn puts more pressure on local government social systems and reduces the resources available for public revenues. The tourism industry can play an even bigger role in meeting needs," Tyrrell says.

Cothran agrees and says that tourism is an industry that will have an everlasting impact on the state.

"As we look forward to 2050," she says, "some of these other industries will fall away, but tourism will always be important to Arizona."

Kasia Marciszewska contributed to this report.