Jim Babbitt, owner of Babbitt’s Backcountry Outfitters says the number of tourists this summer in his store has been down a bit over last summer. Still, he presses on to provide outdoor clothing and gear to his customers. “Sales for nearly everyone downtown have been down, but we’re doing fine overall,” he said.

Babbitt insists, despite the economic downturn in Flagstaff and across country, things are looking up a bit. “Sales were about average for us during May and June, but people just haven’t been spending as much as they used to,” he noted. “However, the past few weekends have been really good, especially with movies at the square. It’s been jam packed there at nights -which is great.”

It’s pretty much the same story at Drury Inn on Milton Avenue. General Manager, Jeff Theiss says his occupancy numbers are not available to the public, but says this July was slower than it was in July of 2008. “With Flagstaff, so much is driven by the weather. It wasn’t as warm here this June as it was last June. Plus, the Phoenix economy really affects Flagstaff’s economy,” he noted. Most of his customers come from Phoenix and he adds since some people in Phoenix don’t have the money to spend on tourism right now, they may skip visiting Northern Arizona. “We often get a lot of state convention bookings from Phoenix and this year we’ve had a few of those events cancel. Government agencies which often book hotels out of Phoenix, are staying in Phoenix to avoid hotel, mileage and other expenses,” he says.

“Considering the economy, Flagstaff tourism is doing fairly well. Overall, hotel occupancy has been up slightly during April and May, June was flat. (July figures were not available at press time). Our top market is Phoenix, just two hours away, and when it’s hot down there, people flock to Flagstaff,” said Heather Ainardi, acting director of the Flagstaff Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. She agreed visitors from the Valley, seem to be spending less money here this summer than they have in previous years.

According to Kevin Burke, Flagstaff city manager, indicators include a 15 percent drop in city taxable sales compared with the same month a year before, which was also down from 2007. Something else to consider is the loss in revenue from the city’s bed, board and beverage tax which was down 5.4 percent from last May’s figures. Burke adds, “Flagstaff is still doing better than the state overall so we’re happy for that.” Finally, Burke says starting last spring, the city used $250,000 in stimulus money to beef up its marketing efforts to bring people to Flagstaff. At this point he says he believes that was money well spent and soon the city will be able to see results. Phoenix and Los Angeles are the main target market areas.

Thousands of visitors congregate at Arizona Snowbowl in the summer to ride the chair lifts to the top of the mountain. Director of Sales and Marketing, Dave Smith, says so far this summer business has been great. “Usually we have about 30,000 visitors between Memorial Day and mid-October, but the last couple of years that number has varied some. Right now (end of July) we’re ahead of where we were in July of 2008 and 2007,” he added.

As a result of warmer weather in July, local business leaders say they expected the tourism industry in Flagstaff to improve through the fall.