When visitors come to Arizona, their dollars don’t stop at the hotel.
They pay for meals at local restaurants, fill up rental cars, shop at stores, buy tickets to attractions and spend money on entertainment. In many Arizona communities, that spending has become an important part of keeping businesses open, creating jobs and helping to pay for public services.
That impact reached a new high in 2025.
Tourism supported a record 326,359 jobs across Arizona last year, according to new data from the Arizona Office of Tourism. The total includes jobs directly tied to tourism as well as indirect and induced employment supported by visitor spending. Direct tourism employment grew 0.7% from 2024 to 195,190 jobs.
Total tourism-supported employment increased 0.6%, reaching its highest level on record. The numbers show that tourism is much more than an industry built around hotels and attractions. Its economic reach stretches into restaurants, retail stores, transportation, entertainment and other businesses that depend on people coming through their doors.
“Tourism continues to be a cornerstone of Arizona’s economic strength, delivering jobs and supporting livelihoods across our state,” Gov. Katie Hobbs said.
Rural communities feel the impact
Perhaps nowhere is tourism’s importance more apparent than in rural Arizona.
Across the state’s 13 rural counties, tourism-related business activity accounted for 12.5% of total sales tax revenue in fiscal 2025, according to an Arizona Office of Tourism analysis of Transaction Privilege Tax data. Put another way, about $1 out of every $8 in sales tax collected in those counties was connected to tourism.
That share was lower in Maricopa and Pima counties, where tourism accounted for about 7.2% of sales tax revenue — roughly $1 out of every $12 collected.
For smaller communities, that money can make a noticeable difference in the services residents rely on every day. Tourism tax dollars help support local government operations, infrastructure and public safety while also putting money into the hands of local businesses and their employees.
Visitors are spending differently
The way visitors spend their money is changing, too.
Air travel spending increased 7.7% in 2025. Restaurants and other food-service businesses collected $6.8 billion in visitor-related spending, up 1.8% from the previous year. Spending on arts, entertainment and recreation reached $3 billion, a 3.4% increase, while retail spending rose 3.2% to $839 million. Those increases helped make up for softer spending on accommodations, which declined 1%, and local transportation, which fell 1.4%.
The trend points to visitors putting more money into experiences — eating out, shopping, attending events and visiting attractions — rather than simply spending on a place to sleep.
Most people visiting Arizona are coming from somewhere else in the United States. Domestic travelers accounted for 88% of the state’s visitors in 2025, while international travelers made up the remaining 12%. California was the largest source of visitors, followed by New York, Texas, Florida and Illinois. Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and France were the leading international markets. And even a small increase in the number of visitors can have a major economic effect.
The Arizona Office of Tourism estimates a 1% increase in visitation — about 400,000 additional visitors — could generate approximately $300 million in additional visitor spending. That puts the importance of tourism into perspective. A few hundred thousand additional visitors can mean hundreds of millions of dollars flowing through Arizona businesses.
Tourism also helps fund state government
Visitors aren’t just spending money at businesses. They are also generating tax revenue for the state.
Tourism produced about $1.2 billion in state tourism tax revenue in 2025, according to the Arizona Office of Tourism. That was equivalent to roughly 7.4% of the state’s general fund spending.
For Arizona, the message in the numbers is fairly simple: When visitors spend money, communities benefit. The record employment numbers show how many jobs depend on that spending. The tax figures show how it helps government. And the spending patterns show that the benefits extend far beyond the state’s hotels and resorts.
From a restaurant in downtown Phoenix to a small business in rural Arizona, tourism has become part of the economic fabric of communities across the state.
The Arizona Office of Tourism presented the findings during the 2026 Arizona Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Tucson, where tourism industry leaders from across the state gathered to discuss the future of the visitor economy. For Arizona, that future could be measured not only by how many people visit, but by how much they spend — and how far those dollars travel once they arrive.
Matt Loeschman
Managing Editor | West Valley
Meet Matt
Matt Loeschman has had two separate stints at Independent Newsmedia. He began as a reporter covering Peoria and later Surprise from 2000-2009. In 2017, he returned to Arizona and INI as the news editor of the Daily News-Sun (now the Phoenix Independent). He previously covered the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League for more than a decade.
Community: During high school football season since 2017, he contributes live postgame radio reports to the AzPreps 365 Friday Night Football Wrapup Show. He supports organizations such as Phoenix Children’s, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Valley and the American Cancer Society.
Education: The University of Texas at Austin majoring in Journalism-News and Public Affairs.
Random Fact: He can sing and he has been fortunate to meet many famous people during his journalism career including First Lady Hillary Clinton, King of Country Music George Strait and Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey. Attended all 4 home games of the 2001 World Series.
Hobbies: Watching and playing a wide variety of sports, including golf, tennis, pickleball and softball. Playing PlayStation 5, working out, shopping and reading.