PHOENIX -- Faced with fewer advertising dollars than other golf course-canvassed sunshine states, Arizona's share of tourism money is declining.
The amount spent in Arizona by tourists was up last year, but the state's percentage of the U.S. travel trade slipped from 2.5 percent to 2.4 percent. That adds up to an estimated $400 million the state missed out on, according to the Arizona Office of Tourism."It's a matter of marketing," said Mark McDermott, director of the tourism office.
And without more of it, some tourism officials fear Arizona will lose even more tourists to sunny states like California and Nevada.
"We can't market the state and our hotels. It's tough enough just marketing our hotels," said Tom Silverman, the co-owner and general manager of the Scottsdale Embassy Suites.
But so far, the Arizona Legislature has been hesitant to shell out large amounts to advertise to potential visitors.
Confronted with a projected budget shortfall, lawmakers have proposed slashing $1 million of the $6.2 million Arizona currently spends showing off the state's sunsets, cultural history and sprawling golf courses. In all, the tourism office spent roughly $8.3 million on its tourism budget in the 1997-98 fiscal year, the rest of which came from the hotel bed tax.
The amount is only slightly less than what Nevada's state tourism office spends, $9.1 million, but it pales in comparison to what the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spends on its own.
Rob Powers, spokesman for the authority, said his office spends $50 million just to market Las Vegas.
Some of that money went to put a huge lighted sign in the Arizona Diamondbacks' ballpark -- something that prompted outrage among tourism officials during baseball season.
"They are after our people," said Silverman, who is also chairman of the Tourism Advisory Council to the state tourism office.
But Powers said Las Vegas faces the same market pressures that other places do and they are fighting the proliferation of tribal casinos that draw away potential gamblers from Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nev.
Las Vegas is not, however, shy about marketing itself as a launching pad to the Grand Canyon, Arizona's premier tourist attraction.
It actively promotes air tours to the Grand Canyon, which is a short hop east.
That doesn't sit well with some Arizona tourism officials.
"Las Vegas is very good at promoting the Grand Canyon to foreign visitors," said Rep. Barry Wong, chairman of the Arizona Legislature's International Trade, Technology & Tourism Committee. "We must market to them or they'll only look at the Grand Canyon and never get into central and southern Arizona."
McDermott said the state has also failed to give visitors new reasons to come here.
While gargantuan new casinos have been erected in Las Vegas and California's Disneyland saw a much-ballyhooed Tomorrowland renovation, Arizona has failed to develop new attractions, said McDermott.
A long-term plan is a must, he said.
"We'll never be able to compete with Las Vegas directly, but the more we're able to bring people in who spend more money, the bigger multiple bottom line return on our investment we'll see," McDermott said.