Survey: Arizona loves tourists, Phoenix not so much
Sep 3, 2015, 3:05 PM
(AP Photo)
Well, this is slightly embarrassing. Tourism plays a large part in Arizona’s economy and as such, visitors are generally welcomed with open arms around the state.
Except in the capital — Phoenix.
So said a survey that revealed Arizona was a super friendly state toward tourists but Phoenix was one of the top 10 tourist-hating cities in the country.
Based on #tourist tweets, the Grand Canyon State was No. 8 for most welcoming. Flipping the coin, though, Phoenix came in No. 8 on Stratos Jet Charters’ gloomy-about-tourists list.
The private jet company had crunchers pull together numbers based on tweets about tourists from every state, then break down the data even further into cities’ positive and negative feelings.
On the positive side, Arizona came in behind Illinois; Montana; New Hampshire; North Dakota; Nebraska; Alaska; and Idaho. Tennessee and Washington rounded out the top 10 most welcoming.
At the top of the grumblers were: Arlington, Texas; New York City; Las Vegas; Boston; New Orleans; Orlando; Greensboro, North Carolina. Los Angeles came in at No. 9 and San Francisco was No. 10.
In defense of Valley residents, you have to figure a lot of the tweets went out during spring training, when visitors crowd regulars out of their favorite places. Or shortly after the arrival of snowbirds, who drive large vehicles very slowly.
Really, it’s the traffic that gets Phoenicians all riled up.