Tourism-Travel-Traffic

Visitor counts & travel impacts

NATIONAL & STATE PARK VISITOR COUNTS

In 2021, visits to state and national parks located in Cochise County rebounded following steep COVID-related declines in 2020. The only exception both years was Coronado National Memorial, which saw an overall increase in visitors of 19.9% in 2020 before falling 16.9% in 2021.
Kartchner Caverns State Park (typically the most visited park in Cochise County) saw visits increase 26.5% in 2021, after falling 53.3% in 2020.
Tombstone Courthouse State Historic Park saw visitor counts grow by 43.9% in 2021 (after falling 45.8% in 2020).
Chiricahua National Monument visits were up by 19.2% in 2021 (after a 26.1% drop in 2020).
Fort Bowie National Historic Site visitors increased 43.7% (following a 14.8% decline in 2020).

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 $206.7 million in direct spending in 2020, down 40.2% from 2019. Cochise County's travel industry supported 3,000 jobs (down 13.6%) countywide with earnings of $81.7 million (down 8.6%) in 2020, according to the study.

Visitor Counts (national & state parks) (2003-current) (pdf)

Visitor Counts (national & state parks) (2003-current) (xlsx)

In 2020, the busiest stretch of highway in Cochise County was Interstate 10 between Mescal Rd and Skyline Rd, with an average annual daily traffic count of 28,093 (down 9.7% from 2019 with the slowdown in travel due to the COVID pandemic).
Off the interstate, the busiest stretch was State Route 92 in Sierra Vista, from East Foothills Dr to Snyder Rd, with an average of 23,757 vehicles daily (down 8.8%).

Traffic Counts (2007-current) (pdf)

Traffic Counts (2007-current) (xlsx)