Visitors from UK playing important part in Scottsdale economy
Jul 11, 2017, 4:01 AM
(Facebook Photo)
(Facebook Photo)
PHOENIX — “The British are coming” once had a negative connotation for Americans, but for Scottsdale, it means an economic boon.
The Valley city has received a healthy amount of international travelers that play a big part in the bottom line. A large number of those visitors are from the United Kingdom and Scottsdale is ready to welcome more.
“International travelers tend to stay longer and spend more in the destination and the Brits are included in that,” Stephanie Pressler, the community affairs manager for Experience Scottsdale, said.
Pressler said the British are the second-largest group of the city’s overseas visitors, topped only by the Germans.
She said the daily nonstop British Airways flight between London’s Heathrow Airport to nearby Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport played a big part in the number of British people strolling through Old Town.
“In 2015, nearly 118,000 U.K. travelers visited Arizona, and that’s according to the Arizona Office of Tourism,” Pressler said.
British Airways recently added a second flight between the English capital and the Valley of the Sun during May and June.
Scottsdale restaurants were recently featured in two articles in the United Kingdom’s monthly “About Time Magazine” after Experience Scottsdale hosted a group of travel and leisure writers.
