By Tommy Acosta
We all know that tourism remains the lifeblood of Sedona’s economy.
The recent discord between the city and the Sedona Chamber of Commerce has led to a significant decline in visitor numbers.
To revitalize tourism and restore Sedona to its former glory, strategic efforts from multiple stakeholders are needed.
We, as a community, need to explore various avenues for enticing tourists to visit Sedona and outline actionable steps that businesses, the City Council, the Chamber of Commerce, and local media can take to boost tourism.
First, Sedona must adopt an integrated and targeted advertising approach.
The city should focus on leveraging digital platforms and social media to reach a wider audience. Engaging storytelling, captivating visuals, and user-generated content can showcase the city’s unique charm. Moreover, Sedona should collaborate with influential travel bloggers and social media influencers to promote the city as a desirable destination.
Local businesses play a vital role in enhancing the overall tourism experience.
Collaborations among hotels, restaurants, tour operators, and retailers can create appealing package deals that entice visitors to stay longer and spend more in Sedona. Businesses can also offer discounts or special promotions for tourists, emphasizing the city’s distinctive attractions and activities.
The Sedona City Council now has a crucial role to play in stimulating tourism, in that it now has officially become the official destination marketing entity for Sedona.
By investing in infrastructure improvements, such as road expansions, parking facilities, and public transportation options, the council can alleviate traffic congestion and enhance accessibility.
Additionally, supporting the development of eco-friendly practices and sustainable tourism initiatives will appeal to environmentally conscious travelers.
Rebuilding a harmonious partnership between the city and the Chamber of Commerce is essential for boosting tourism.
The Chamber should actively collaborate with local businesses to develop comprehensive marketing campaigns, including print media, television, and radio advertisements.
Participating in travel trade shows and organizing familiarization tours for travel agents and journalists can also generate positive exposure for Sedona.
To garner positive reviews from media outlets, Sedona must actively engage with Arizona newspapers and influential travel journalists.
Hosting press trips and providing accurate and up-to-date information about the city’s attractions, events, and amenities can increase the likelihood of positive coverage.
Building strong relationships with media professionals and offering them unique experiences can help generate favorable stories about Sedona.
Highlighting the distinctive aspects of Sedona is crucial to attracting tourists. Promote Sedona’s breathtaking landscapes, world-class hiking trails, and spiritual retreats. Emphasize the city’s vibrant arts scene, renowned festivals, and wellness offerings. By showcasing Sedona’s diverse and enriching experiences, the city can captivate potential visitors and differentiate itself from other destinations.
Public perception of traffic congestion can discourage potential tourists from visiting Sedona. To combat this perception, the city must focus on implementing effective traffic management strategies.
This includes providing real-time traffic updates, optimizing traffic flow through intelligent transportation systems, and promoting alternative transportation options, such as biking and public transit.
Engaging with the community to address their concerns and communicate ongoing efforts to alleviate traffic issues is also crucial.
Sedona can draw inspiration from other successful tourist destinations to increase visitor numbers. Studying the strategies implemented by destinations like Asheville, North Carolina, or Santa Fe, New Mexico, which have effectively marketed their unique offerings, can provide valuable insights.
Additionally, Sedona can participate in collaborative initiatives with neighboring destinations to create regional tourism campaigns that highlight the diverse attractions of Northern Arizona.
Reinvigorating tourism in Sedona requires a concerted effort from multiple stakeholders. By implementing strategic advertising, collaborating with local businesses, investing in infrastructure, rebuilding the Chamber of Commerce partnership, garnering positive reviews, showcasing unique features, addressing traffic concerns, and learning from successful destinations, Sedona can regain its status as a sought-after tourist destination.
Through these collective efforts, the city can attract a steady stream of visitors who will not only contribute to its economy but also cherish the unforgettable experiences that Sedona has to offer.
16 Comments
How about building a bridge from upper Redrock loop area to the VOC?? That would help traffic big time. Don’t let the miserable retirees say not to the bridge
That’s been talked about for almost 20 years. It’s county problem. They have no interest nor do the residents on Verde Valley School Road and Red Rock Loop Road. It would have to be totally reengineered to handle the traffic. It’s a nonstarter. That being said, there is a bridge over the river now. It’s used for emergency vehicles. By the way, it could be used for transit with the Verde valley extended system. It’s not the obligation of the sedona city government to make travel more convenient for the residents of the Village.They choose not to live in Sedona. They should shop locally
So we should create ways to have more traffic rather than figure out how to reduce the congestion issues of existing roadways? More construction means more development which means more tourist and much more traffic! LA, Vegas, NY and many other major cities have dozens of variants for traffic flow but every single one of them remains congested to the hilt. Not a good alternative or answer!
None of the area you are speaking of for a bridge has nothing to do with Sedona. This problem can only be solved with the county, and the forest service. Sedona has said they are all for it. So solutions must be made by others. The county was more worried about a road between 17 and 89a that would go the same direction of those existing roads. I dont think the county cares one bit. The enjoy all the tax they get from Sedona and do little to help us.
What a fluff piece! Sounds like a page from Chamber of Commerce’s Michele Conway. Except you didn’t use the word “sustainability” 6 times.
What a dismal summer this has been so far for Sedona businesses.
Restaurants are cutting down their days and hours. Lodging is down. Shops are empty. Streets are deserted. ATV rentals are dismal.
What the heck is going on?
At least, for Sedona residents who hate the traffic when times are good, could be glad they have the streets to themselves but for those who earn a living here it’s been a nightmare.
When the City Council stepped in the chamber of Commerce’s way to put an end to destination marketing those who could see the future knew there would be a piper to pay when tourism dries up.
And now we have the reality of a dying economy as business struggle to stay afloat.
Almost anyone with forbearance could see it coming.
All this bad publicity about Sedona traffic being a nightmare and the mortal danger of dangerous ATVs ready to run us off the road is scaring the hell out of potential visitors.
The fear of coming to Sedona that is being generated by the council is a cancer that is going to destroy Sedona.
I seriously doubt visitors are being scared off because they are frightened by proposed legislation to curb Idiocracy on our roads by ATV drivers who shouldn’t be on them in the first place. If you come to Sedona to tear arse around town and on the trails you have come her for very very wrong reasons! Just as the obnoxious tourism helicopters that were disrupting the entire area and illegally flying over ruins in a hover or landing on them so their customers could photograph them was very very wrong and were driven out of town for it. Seems like the Airport and Sedona are still thriving despite their absence so your logic is flawed!
Uh, I see plenty of traffic, visitors and lodgers here this summer! The Marriott’s parking lot is full every evening, traffic congested all day every day (mainly because people drive like they have never had driver’s education and drive like morons) and all the normal non Uber expensive tourist trap places are busy as can be. Don’t see any decline anywhere!
It is the writer’s opinion that not funding the Chamber decreased summertime visits. The summer is always slower here because it’s too hot.
According to friends who have vacation rentals, VRBO vacation rental searches nationwide are down 75%. Sedona is not immune to the national economic climate.
Perhaps Sedona doesn’t need all of these restaurants and trinket stores. I’m sure it’s heart breaking for the people who want to make money off Sedona and over extended themselves. There is something called market saturation and also planning for the down time that inevitably occurs; investors should have thought this out beforehand. Most mature, self sustaining businesses know how to do this.
We only need so many hotel rooms, Air BNBs, and stores peddling trinkets. Sedona also has plenty of well off people of all ages who just want to live here. Others piled in seeing an opportunity to make money while living in paradise but in order for them to sustain themselves here they had to devise some type of tourism related strategy. Currently we have a new crowd of younger people who bought several vacation rentals and their new full time job is renting out homes in former neighborhoods. Yes, everyone wants something don’t they? I don’t believe it’s anyone else’s job to ensure they can survive in their chosen lifestyle here. Sedona will continue as it always has. Worse case scenario some people close their businesses down and move. Sedona itself will still have restaurants, and all the stores we need that are already here.
As far as foisting a new way to trash Sedona in outlying areas. It’s astonishing to most of us that the people who need to make more money here also need to spread their tourism disease around and put the burden onto every road they can. Takers will always take more. Nothing can satisfy the demand for more.
The brilliant commenters should have attended the county meetings to learn why there is no bridge and never will be a bridge built in front of the most iconic spot in the State. As usual the comments section is full of people who have opinions and no knowledge and that is the norm.
Hi Robert.
Does Sedona belong specifically to anyone?
It seems quite a few locals in this town are under the impression that because they live here, they think Sedona belongs to them.
Wrong. Sedona is a mystical magical place where the energies of the cosmos convene and create an atmosphere for healing, spiritual growth, beauty and wellness.
It belongs to no one, rather it belongs to all of us, locals, tourists and visitors alike.
Sedona has been here a lot longer than any local can claim and it will be here long afterwards. The NIMBY’s need to get it into their thick and selfish skulls that they don’t own the land. They are merely leasing it.
We who live here are simply the stewards. Those blessed to live here are shouldered with the responsibility to care for the land and keep it beautiful for the world.
Is the traffic that only backs up a few times a year during season such a terrible thing to bear?
Get over it those who grouch that the town is not what they envision it to be.
Once and for all, get it. Sedona does not belong to you alone.
Thank you, Mary Ann, well said.
Actually it technically belongs to the Hopi, Navajo and Apache who settled the area but were forced out in a land grab so ranchers and farmers could takeover the existing waterways and agricultural areas like “Indian Gardens” which was as Arizona Highways described: “a flourishing Apache garden formerly owned by a “combatant Apache” who was arrested and sent to the reservation.” This was a land grab pure and simple! Who wouldn’t be “combatant” after being forced from their land, arrested and deported from it???
I’m all for all the Air B&B going broke. This will eventually provide cheap housing for residents and maybe young people will once again make Sedona home and have children.
Maybe retired people will come back to Sedona, when the don’t have to face weekend and holiday bumper to bumper traffic and being trapped in their homes.
Maybe Sedona could have a diversified economy, instead of just being a tourist trap with hotels and trinkets.
A town that is 100 % tourist based is not sustainable. Y-all killed the golden goose.
It’s over 100º in Sedona. What makes people think that doesn’t factor in to potential visitors decisions? Sedona has been completely overrun with tourists in the last 6 years, much to the dismay of long time residents. Maybe we should just let things balance out for awhile instead of hitting the panic button?
Great answer Peggy!
please do we need this???
traffic,,,,, hotels,,, resturants more business ? 100 people lined up at Devils Bridge… Give
Sedona a break!!!!