Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas are showing contrasting tourism patterns across the Southwest, with Las Vegas recording 38.5 million visitors in 2025 while Phoenix-metro welcomed 47.7 million day and overnight visitors. The figures highlight two major travel markets with different visitor profiles, attractions and tourism experiences, while Arizona recorded a record 326,359 tourism-supported jobs statewide in 2025.
Las Vegas Tourism Enters a Changing Phase
Las Vegas recorded 38.5 million visitors in 2025, a 7.5% decline from 2024. Hotel occupancy averaged 80.3%, down 3.3 percentage points, while the average daily room rate reached $183.52. Despite the lower visitor volume, direct visitor spending remained substantial at $50.8 billion, with the overall tourism economic impact reaching $80.9 billion.
The destination also recorded approximately six million convention attendees during the year. This means Las Vegas continues to attract a significant business and events market alongside leisure travellers, with conventions providing an important component of its visitor economy.
Phoenix Expands the Southwest Travel Circuit
Phoenix presents a different tourism profile, combining urban travel with access to desert landscapes, golf, resorts, outdoor recreation and neighbouring destinations.
Phoenix-metro attracted 47.7 million visitors in 2025, including day and overnight travellers. Those visitors generated more than $13.4 billion in direct spending and $23.6 billion in total economic impact. Visitor spending also affected more than 144,000 jobs in the metropolitan area.
The destination’s average overnight stay was 3.1 nights, providing a base for travellers exploring Phoenix alongside Scottsdale, Tempe and other communities in the metropolitan area.
Phoenix Connects City Breaks With Desert Travel
Phoenix offers travellers a combination of city attractions and access to the Sonoran Desert. Visitors can explore museums, restaurants, resorts, golf courses and cultural attractions before heading into the surrounding desert for hiking, cycling and scenic drives.
Scottsdale adds another dimension through its resort accommodation, golf, wellness experiences, restaurants and arts scene. Together, Phoenix and Scottsdale can form a multi-day base for visitors looking to combine urban attractions with outdoor experiences.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport further supports the region’s accessibility. The airport handled more than 51 million passengers in 2025 and offers direct service to more than 130 domestic and 26 international destinations.
Sedona Adds Red Rock Landscapes
Sedona provides a natural extension to an Arizona itinerary. Its red-rock formations, hiking trails, scenic viewpoints and wellness experiences give travellers a distinctly different landscape from Phoenix’s desert setting.
Visitors can travel north from the Phoenix area towards Sedona and continue towards Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. This creates a route linking urban tourism with outdoor and nature-based travel.
For international visitors, such combinations allow Arizona to function as more than a single-destination holiday, with several landscapes and tourism experiences accessible within one trip.
Arizona Records Tourism Employment
Arizona’s wider tourism economy reached a new employment milestone in 2025. The Arizona Office of Tourism reported 326,359 direct, indirect and induced jobs supported by tourism, while direct tourism employment reached 195,190 positions.
Visitor spending was particularly strong across air travel, food services, retail, and arts, entertainment and recreation. Air travel spending increased 7.7%, food services reached $6.8 billion, retail spending reached $839 million and arts, entertainment and recreation generated $3 billion.
The figures cover all 15 Arizona counties, extending the tourism story beyond Phoenix into rural and northern destinations.
Grand Canyon Strengthens the Statewide Journey
The Grand Canyon remains one of Arizona’s defining tourism attractions and can be incorporated into longer road-trip itineraries from Phoenix and other Arizona gateways.
Travellers can combine the Grand Canyon with Sedona, Flagstaff and northern Arizona, creating a journey that moves from desert scenery to red-rock formations, pine forests and one of the world’s most recognisable natural landscapes.
This geographic variety gives Arizona a broad tourism proposition, particularly for visitors seeking road trips and outdoor experiences.
International Visitors Add Another Layer
Arizona’s visitor market includes both domestic and international travellers. The Arizona Office of Tourism reports that 88% of visitation is domestic and 12% international. Mexico, Canada, the UK, Germany and France are among the state’s leading international source markets.
The international component connects Arizona with wider North American and transatlantic travel networks, while Mexico’s proximity creates an important cross-border tourism relationship.
Las Vegas Remains a Major Travel Hub
The decline in Las Vegas visitation does not remove the city from the Southwest tourism map. The destination retains one of the largest hotel inventories in the United States, with approximately 150,300 rooms, and its 80.3% occupancy rate remained substantially above the reported US hotel average of 62.3% in 2025.
Its entertainment, conventions, restaurants, resorts, sports and events continue to give travellers reasons to visit, while its location provides access to wider Nevada and Southwest attractions.
A Broader Southwest Tourism Journey
The contrasting 2025 figures show how travellers can experience the Southwest through different destination combinations. Las Vegas remains a major entertainment and convention centre, while Phoenix provides a gateway to Arizona’s desert, resort and outdoor tourism.
A wider itinerary can connect Phoenix with Scottsdale and Sedona before continuing to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, while Las Vegas can be added for entertainment, dining and major events.
Arizona’s record 326,359 tourism-supported jobs and Phoenix-metro’s 47.7 million visitors demonstrate the scale of the state’s visitor economy. At the same time, Las Vegas continues to generate $50.8 billion in direct visitor spending despite lower annual visitation.
Together, these markets give the Southwest a diverse travel network spanning desert cities, luxury resorts, natural landmarks, cultural attractions, road trips and outdoor adventures.
