Yes, tourism is growing in New Mexico
When the state Department of Tourism releases its annual survey of visits to New Mexico, there often is a lot of eye-rolling. Such was the case last week when Tourism Secretary Rebecca Latham and Gov. Susana Martinez released data from Longwoods Travel USA showing 1 million more visits in the state last year, bringing total annual visitation from those who live here and from elsewhere to 34.4 million, up 3 percent from 2015. The growth in 2016 was twice the national average. “How are visitors counted … with their four-legged friends?” asks one New Mexican reader. Under the headline, “More Ridiculous NM Tourism Stats,” ABQ Free Press wrote, “In 2016, the Grand Canyon, one of the greatest wonders of the world, attracted 6 million visitors. If New Mexico’s ‘trip’ stats are legit, it means more people are interested in going to Hobbs and Tucumcari than the Grand Canyon.”
The problem with that criticism and others is that the data has nothing to do with visitors; it measures trips and visits, and some of those are by the same people — us.
Granted, the message is confusing, and even the governor misspoke. “It’s important that we had a million more people coming to New Mexico, visiting New Mexico in 2016 than the previous year,” she told a television reporter at the Albuquerque balloon museum.
Unfortunately, that statement isn’t correct. What New Mexico did see was a million more trips or visits to the state — only some of those visits were by new tourists.
The annual survey is from Longwoods Travel USA, which does travel research for hundreds of communities around the United States.
Longwoods doesn’t interview everyone flying into an airport or stopping at an interstate welcome center. But large research firms that measure public opinion on presidential approval or health care don’t survey all Americans, either, or even all voters. Results are based on sample surveys of the population, and as long as those are representative, some conclusions can be reached with a known sampling error.
Longwoods, for instance, defines a day trip as travel of 50 miles or more primarily for leisure (not commuters). And of the 34 million visits in the state during 2016, more than 19 million were day trips, up almost 5 percent from the previous year.
“New Mexicans are traveling in New Mexico more,” Latham said.
It doesn’t take much from my own family to see how these numbers add up: camping at state parks in Alamogordo and Raton; an overnight softball tournament in Farmington; basketball in Las Cruces; dinner with friends in Albuquerque; a night at Popejoy Hall to see The Lion King.
There might be an honest difference whether this travel is really tourism, but that has been the industry definition, and the survey method has been the same year to year. And money spent by a Santa Fe resident who decides to drive and watch the Isotopes is just as important as someone from El Paso going to Carlsbad Caverns; both mean money is spent in New Mexico rather than elsewhere.
More important, the tourism growth seems to align with everything else we know about the state economy.
Keep in mind that 2016 was a unique year for the state, and the real test might be whether the growth can be replicated as money spent on parks, museums and cultural events erode.
One of the once-only happenings in 2016 was the opening of the Meow Wolf immersive event space in Santa Fe. The business drew some 400,000 visitors its first year. The number is not based on a survey but actual ticket sales, many of those sales going to New Mexico residents living outside Santa Fe but coming from Albuquerque and elsewhere to experience the exhibit.
Those were day trips, according to the Longwoods definition. Add to that some Meow Wolf concertgoers from Albuquerque who are wisely staying overnight in Santa Fe instead of driving home at midnight.
Now look at what happened with the marketing around the centennial celebration of the National Park Service — visits to public lands were up throughout the state last year. Once again, the numbers are actual counts from the entry gates, with the increase from 2015, available on the National Parks Service website.
White Sands National Monument, 555,793, up 12 percent;
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, 466,773, up 5 percent;
Bandelier National Monument, 189,476, up 14 percent;
Petroglyph National Monument, 124,177, up 5 percent;
Pecos National Historical Park, 39,715, up 31 percent;
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, 54,084, up 39 percent.
There are other measures that show tourism is healthy in New Mexico — employment at hotels, restaurants and hospitality areas grew 2.6 percent in 2016 and is up more than 12 percent since 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The amount of money received by state and local governments from gross receipts taxes grew 3 percent in 2016. Once again, this is actual data on taxes paid to the state Taxation and Revenue Department, not survey data.
No, the state didn’t see 30 million visitors last year, and Hobbs didn’t draw more tourists than the Grand Canyon. But it’s not a stretch to see that tourism is healthy and growing in New Mexico — and all those who work in the industry or promote it, can share in that accomplishment.