One year later, travel and tourism businesses based out of Tempe are still struggling to recover from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.
"You can't put all the blame on September 11, but it was definitely a strong factor," said Michael Martin of the Tempe Visitors and Convention Bureau of the difficult financial year.
According to a report by the Tempe Visitors and Convention Bureau, the revenue on the hotel bed tax was $87,316 in 2001, compared to $130,467 in 2000, which was a 33 percent drop.
The occupancy percentage from 2001 to 2002 also went down 4.1 percent. The cost of a room also dropped 8.6 percent.
There is also a 12.3 percent decline from 2001 to 2002 in room revenue, indicating that hotels are making about $7 less for each room they fill.
According to the Travel Industry Association of America, the total amount of travel nationally is down from $584.4 billion in 2000 to $545.1 billion in 2001.
The travel industry is making a comeback but isn't expected to fully recover until 2003, according to the association.
Suzanne Luber, spokeswoman for Phoenix Sky Harbor, said the airport's revenue for September 2001 was down 25 percent from September 2000.
"The business travels are down the most," Luber said. "It all depends on when the businesses start sending people again. People are starting to return now, but revenues are still down 1 percent from what they were last year."
Sky Harbor had a 6 percent decrease in revenue for the year.
Nathanael Pretlow, marketing director of the Mill Avenue Merchants, agreed with Luber that the attacks have injured business.
"There have been fewer conferences because businesses are staying close to home," he said. "Immediately following [the attacks], there were noticeable differences, especially in hotels. Occupancy levels decreased and that affected retailers.
"Business is coming back though," Pretlow said. "People are starting to travel again and the hotels are doing better. The hotels are still hurting but things are looking up."
"Numbers have improved," Martin added. "The trend is coming back, but we will still have to wait until 2004 to reach 2000 numbers."
Reach the reporter at samantha.xanthos@asu.edu.
