Warm Hospitality
Visit yuma reports on the state of tourism
Yuma’s hospitality industry is different from other communities. While most hotels typically sell out on weekends, the highest bookings days for Yuma hotels are Tuesday and Wednesday.
“We have a lot of business travel, we have military travel, we have people coming from the border, we have ag workers staying in the hotels, so we don’t need anyone to come stay in our hotel on Tuesday, Wednesday in January and February,” said Marcus Carney, executive director of Visit Yuma, the local visitors bureau.
Carney shared the hospitality and tourism numbers from last fiscal year, which ran from July 2021 through June 2022, during its annual meeting held Nov. 1 at the Palms RV Resort.
A “remarkable” new trend was the average daily rate for Yuma hotels, which had an average daily rate of $111.70.
“When I started last year, I came here in July, I looked at our numbers from the prior five years. We had five days, not months, but five days when the average daily rate was over $100. Last year
we were over $110. That’s a remarkable increase,” Carney said.
Yuma County has 40 lodging properties with 3,606 hotel rooms. “That is a lot of hotel rooms and that makes what we do a little bit more pressure,” he noted.
Visitors booked a total
of 923,870 nights in hotel rooms in 2022, up from year 2021, and hotels made $104.7 million, significantly higher than the previous amount of $78.8 million.
“The hotels are doing a good job. Each of you is doing a good job, bringing people to this town every single day,” Carney said.
Another noticeable spike was the average daily rate during September’s dove hunt, when hotels had an occupancy rate of 75%, “which for that time of year is pretty considerable.” Rooms averaged $132, an increase of about 15% from the previous year.
Spikes and plateaus
throughout the year are driven by events. Visitors come to town when the city hosts events and sports tournaments, economically benefiting the entire community.
“We should thank the city and the Parks Department for continuing to work on that,” Carney said.
Visit Yuma made some dramatic changes in the last year. It n longer hosts Date Night Dinners, instead opting to promote private businesses, such as Naked Dates and Martha’s Gardens, which hold Date Night Dinners for locals and tour groups.
This is more in line with Visit Yuma’s mission statement, which is to support the promotion and development of tourism through industry collaboration and strategic partnerships.
The organization still puts on some events, with one of the most popular being the Dorothy Young Electric Light Parade, which this year is slated for Dec. 10 with the theme of Neon ‘80s.
Membership is a key part of the organization, which contributes about 10% of its total revenue. Visit Yuma has 334 total members, including 45 restaurants, 24 hotels and 36 RV parks.
It also operates a visitor center and gift shop at 264 S. Main. Last year, the center welcomed 11,000 visitors. It also offers items from local companies, such as Mama Bella Hot Sauce and Redemption Candle Company.
The organization recently brought back the position of member liaison and hired Joe Teposte to fill it.
“We’ll be doing a little bit of a push over the next year to really kind of increase our membership,” Carney said. “And one of our
and kraut and Korean dogs.
They also have homemade potatoes, macaroni and Italian pasta salads, soups and more.
And don’t forget the homemade sweets and cookies, an “array of kinds you will love.”
Veterans get a 25% discount on all orders and a free lunch on the last Friday of the month.
Desert Delites Café is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It’s closed Thursdays and Sundays. Call 928-2467055 for questions or to place an order in advance.
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Have you noticed the new electric vehicle charging station right off Interstate 8 in the Foothills? Tesla had 16 supercharger stalls built next to Burger King and Circle K at 11235 S. Fortuna Road.
And there are more to come. The Arizona Department of Transportation plans to install a network of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations along the state’s interstate highways over the next five years.
In a Yuma Sun story, reporter James Gilbert noted that charging stations will be placed at least every 50 miles and within one mile of the interstate. The plan also calls for some already existing charging stations, such as the one located in
Tacna, to be upgraded.
Each charging station will support the simultaneous charging of at least four electric vehicles with 150 KW DC standard connector.
The purpose of the plan is to increase long-range mobility by giving owners of electric vehicles more places to recharge.
ADOT is currently gathering information from the public about future sites where charging stations could be built, such as truck stops, roadside motels and shopping centers.
The plan also includes identifying other highways where charging stations should be built in the near future.
The next phase of the plan, slated for 2024, will
consist of upgrading eight existing charging stations and building 13 new ones.
Once completed, there will only be two gaps with more than 50 miles between charging stations, with one being on Interstate 8 between Gila Bend and Casa Grande, which is a distance of 67 miles.
Under ADOT’s plan, all of the new charging stations being built will also be privately owned and the cost split with the federal government paying 80% and the owner the remaining 20%.
Because these charging stations will be privately owned, maintained and operated, they will not be located on ADOT rights-ofway, including rest stops,
due to restrictions at these types of sites.
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Here are the Yuma Commercial Construction Project Updates for this week:
• CERTIFICATES OF OCCUPANCY ISSUED:
Arizona Marketplace, 3351 S. Avenue 4E, for an enclosed shade structure space.
• BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED: Circle K, 1415 E. 16th St., for a store remodel; Yuma Headwear, 101 W. 16th St., Suite B, for tenant improvements; Yuma County Juvenile Justice Center, 2440 W. 28th St., for new solar PV canopies; Yuma County Public Health, 2725 S. Avenue B, for a new storage building.
• NEW PLANS SUBMITTED FOR REVIEW:
Valley Surgical Resources, 1536 S. 9th Ave., for tenant improvements; Exceptional Community Hospital, 2648 S. Araby Road, for four dwellings for visiting doctors; Western Village Plaza, 1400 S. 4th Ave., for new parapets and façade walls; YRMC, 2400 S. Avenue A, for a COVID memorial; Yuma’s Red Tacos, 2601 S. 4th Ave., for alterations for a new kitchen hood.
If you know of a new business that has or will be opening, relocating or closing, please let mara Knaub know at mknaub@yumasun.com. She appreciates the readers who act as her eyes and ears. She welcomes questions, and if she finds the answers, she will run them in the column.