Traffic & Tourism Counts and Travel Impacts

In 2024, the busiest stretch of highway in Cochise County remained Interstate 10 between Skyline Rd and State Route 90 in Benson, with an average annual daily traffic count (AADT) of 34,308, up 1.4% from the year prior, according to data from Arizona Department of Transportation. Off the interstate, the busiest stretch of highway in 2024 was State Route 92 in Sierra Vista, from State Route 90 (Fry Blvd) to East Foothills Dr, with an average of 27,911 vehicles daily, up 0.9% from 2023.

See spreadsheets, below, for annual Cochise County traffic counts for all measured stretches of US and state routes countywide

NATIONAL & STATE PARK VISITOR COUNTS

• Visits to Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson totaled 77,555 in the first 6 months of 2025 (January through June), down 23.0% from 100,735 in the same period of 2024. That was on the heels of annual growth of 26.5% in 2021 and 30.8% in 2022, a decline of 1.9% in 2023, and a 16.3% increase in 2024 (the overall strong performance in those years, however, followed a 53.3% annual decline in 2020, the first year of the COVID pandemic). Despite strong growth from 2021 through 2024 (with the exception of the slight decline in 2023), annual visits to Kartchner Caverns in 2024 (totaling 155,562) were still down 11.8% from 176,464 in 2019, the year prior to the pandemic (before the 23.0% drop in the first half of 2025).
• Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park visits totaled 20,412 in the first half of 2025, down 6.8% from 21,910 in the same period of 2024. Annually in 2024, visits totaled 37,139, up 0.2% from the year prior. That was after an annual decline of 7.6% in 2023 (following annual increases of 43.9% in 2021 and 8.1% in 2022, rebounding from a 45.8% COVID-related drop back in 2020). Overall, the annual number of visitors in 2024 was down 21.9% from the pre-pandemic year of 2019 (before the 6.8% decline in the first half of 2025).
• Visits to Coronado National Memorial in Cochise County totaled 88,939 in the first 6 months of 2025, down less than 0.1% from 88,983 in the same period of 2024. Annually in 2024, visits totaled 164,426, up 17.4% from the year prior. That followed annual increases of 1.2% in 2022 and 7.5% in 2023. Coronado National Memorial was the only exception in Cochise County to the COVID-related drop in visits in 2020 and rebound of 2021, with, instead, an overall increase in annual visits of 19.9% in 2020 (the first year of the pandemic) followed by a decline of 16.9% in 2021. From 2019 through 2024, the annual number of visits to Coronado National Memorial was up 26.2% overall.
• Chiricahua National Monument visits totaled 44,194 from January through June 2025, down 5.3% from 46,651 in the first 6 months of 2024. Annually in 2024, visits totaled 71,392, up 14.1% from the year prior (after increasing 19.2% in 2021, 14.9% in 2022, and 2.0% in 2023, following a COVID-related decline of 26.1% in 2020). Overall, the annual number of visits to Chiricahua National Monument in 2024 was up 17.7% from 2019, the year before the COVID pandemic.
• Fort Bowie National Historic Site visits totaled 5,189 in the first half of 2025, down 7.0% from 5,582 in the same period of 2024. That followed annual increases of 5.3% in 2023 and 1.8% in 2024 (annually, in 2024, visits to Fort Bowie totaled 8,483). Those increases came after a decline 14.7% in 2022 (following a 43.7% jump in 2021, rebounding from a COVID-related decline of 14.8% in 2020). Overall, after all the instability, from 2019 (the year prior to the pandemic) through 2024, the annual number of visits to Fort Bowie was up 12.0% (before the 7.0% decline in the first 6 months of 2025).

See spreadsheets, below, for monthly and annual Cochise County national and state park visitor counts by attraction, including national monuments and memorials (updated twice annually).

IMPACT OF TOURISM & TRAVEL

• According to research by Dean Runyan Associates for Arizona Office of Tourism, Cochise County's travel industry (including business and leisure travel) generated $379.7 million in direct spending countywide in 2024, down 2.8% from the year prior (that followed increases of 63.5% in 2021, 13.8% in 2022, and 1.6% in 2023, rebounding from a 40.1% COVID-related drop in 2020, the first year of the pandemic). Travel-related direct spending in 2023 was at a record high (with records back to 1998, not adjusted for inflation) prior to the 2024 decline. Cochise County's travel industry supported 3,200 jobs countywide in 2024 (down 8.8%% from the year prior) with household earnings of $99.5 million (down 4.1% from 2023), according to the study.