S.F. looks forward to economic boon
Popular event had a total economic impact of $165 million last year
At the Inn at Vanessie on West Water Street, every room is spoken for on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“We’ve been booked since, I would say, early January,” assistant manager Mitch Oakeley said Monday.
Less than a mile away at the more modest Motel 6, only two or three rooms were still available for Santa Fe’s biggest tourism weekend of the year: Indian Market, billed as the world’s largest and most prestigious juried Native arts show.
“Sometimes people barely even leave and they’re already wanting to book for the following year,” said Mariela Lujan, manager of the Motel 6, where average room rates jump from about $80 to $200 a night — plus tax — during the busy weekend.
Jokingly referred to by some as Indian Markup, the event provides a major economic boon to Santa Fe, which relies heavily on tourist dollars, as well as to the surrounding area — and the outlook this year is especially optimistic.
“We’re having a record year for visitors to town,” said Simon Brackley, president and CEO of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce. “I think the economy nationwide is strong, so people have more money to spend, and they’re more likely to come to Santa Fe and spend some money here. So I think the indicators are all very strong.”
Indian Market, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the city’s historic downtown area, had a total economic impact of $165 million last year, according to a recent study by Santa Fe-based Southwest Planning and Marketing.
“The total estimated economic impact is
intended to be specific to Santa Fe, although leakage outside of Santa Fe, while not included as part of the study, is likely,” Rachelle Howell, the firm’s managing partner and CEO, said in an email.
The study estimated the total number of visitors to be more than 56,500 and total gross receipts taxes generated by spending at the event at $5.63 million.
“The city of Santa Fe received an estimated $2.28 million in [gross receipts taxes] as a result of the event,” the study found.
“I think the revenue is important, but I think the really significant factor is just what a tremendous, historical, cultural event Indian Market is for the city of Santa Fe,” Mayor Alan Webber said. “We’re approaching the 100th anniversary of this event, and it is really deeply embedded in the city and the region as a cultural event, as an artistic event, as an expression of Santa Fe’s identity.”
Santa Fe County also has seen a boost in lodger’s tax revenue, spokeswoman Carmelina Hart said.
The county “has seen an increase of over 16 percent in lodger’s tax collections in fiscal year 2019 for the month of August as compared to the previous fiscal year,” she said.
The study found that combined spending on marketing and production of the event, vendor fees and everything from lodging to transportation “yielded total combined direct spending on the event of $118.07 million.”
“This generated total estimated tax revenues of $10.91 million resulting from the event,” according to the study.
Randy Randall, head of Tourism Santa Fe, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, called Indian Market “probably the single most important individual event” for Santa Fe, putting its attraction on a par with the Santa Fe Opera and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, which stage series of events over several weeks.
“The overall hotel occupancy is always very strong, and it’s not just Friday and Saturday,” Randall said. “They’re coming earlier now, and I think a few things like other markets and other things that are happening around Indian Market are helping to cause people to come for more nights.”
In addition to Indian Market, Santa Fe will host the Free Indian Market, also on Saturday and Sunday, at the Scottish Rite Center, and We Are the Seeds, a Native art market and culture festival, at the Railyard Park on Thursday and Friday.
Randall said he likes that the We Are the Seeds market doesn’t overlap with Indian Market.
“It doesn’t put one on top of the other,” he said. “It spreads it out, and to the extent we spread out of this kind of visibility and this kind of event, it just causes people to spend an extra half-day or a day here on average, which is clearly a benefit to tourism.”
Amanda Crocker, a spokeswoman for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, which puts on Indian Market, said it’s hard to say whether this year’s event will generate the same kind of numbers as last year. But she, too, was optimistic.
“We don’t charge tickets, so we don’t have a sense in advance exactly how many people are going to be walking through the door,” she said. “We do sell tickets for our individuals events, such as the gala and the preview events, and those are selling very well, and we’re totally on track to have sell-out events for those… All signs are looking to a great market.”
Adding to the positive economic outlook this year is a little help from Mother Nature.
“It looks like it’s going to be nice weather,” Brackley said. “We don’t mind rain in the evenings, but we like to keep it sunny for the market itself.”
Brackley said Indian Market has a ripple effect that touches myriad businesses, not just hotels and restaurants.
“It might be somebody stopping at Santa Fe Place mall and buying some jeans and cowboy boots,” he said. “It might be somebody going to a movie while they’re here. It might be somebody having a few beers at Santa Fe Brewing Company.
“All of the different kinds of businesses get to benefit. It’s the entire community and, of course, that’s all tax revenue for Santa Fe.”