OPINION — Tourism is revenue. Tourists seek destinations where they can “stay and play.”
They are not day-trippers who attend a farmers’ market then promptly return to their car and head back out of town. Tourists discover. They purchase lodging, food and beverage, golf rounds, real estate and other taxable items that generate meaningful dollars for our town strongbox. Or, these days, our weak box.
There once existed a Fountain Hills Tourism Bureau within our Chamber of Commerce comprised of volunteer professionals representing the above local industries and more. The object of that collective effort was to attract upscale visitors and create the critical mass necessary to get noticed on the tourism industry’s vast radar.
