With some reductions, Oro Valley adopts tourism plan | News

A first-ever Oro Valley leisure travel management plan has been accepted by the Oro Valley Town Council, with specific endorsement for three of its recommendations.

Based upon a consultant-driven, 155-page plan, and input from a citizen-based tourism advisory commission, the council has endorsed short- and long-term plans to:

• Develop a regional events and festivals strategy to combat seasonality and celebrate identity;

• Increase sports tourism development and advocate (for) additional sports and recreation facilities or venues;

• Activate Steam Pump Ranch as a cultural, culinary and community-first event venue.

In giving its consent, the town council did not accept four “big ideas and action plans” for larger-scale, tourism-related investments such as a performing arts center, an indoor recreation center, a “resident-designed festival or cultural showcase” and a public market hall at Steam Pump Ranch. It did support any possible expansion of Tohono Chul Park (see related story). 

The leisure travel plan, to take effect July 1, has been adopted just as Oro Valley unveils its first tourism website, and as the town council considers funding for tourism-related initiatives through its nascent destination organization marketing organization, Explore Oro Valley (see related stories).

“We’ve come a long way in just a short time, considering we were starting from scratch,” said Paul Melcher, Oro Valley’s community and economic development director. “The goal is to increase the number of visitors that are coming to Oro Valley, and (getting them) to stay overnight. That’s where we get the real multiplier.”

The target market is regional visitors — people from Tucson, and the pool of residents in greater Phoenix, up to 600,000 of whom meet Oro Valley’s desired demographics of age (35-74), household income ($75,000 a year and above) and lifestyles that include the outdoors, arts and culture and leisure weekend getaways.

Oro Valley is now working with its vendor on a social media and content-creation marketing strategy to “drive visitors to the website” so they can learn “what Oro Valley has to offer,” Melcher said.

More events in ‘shoulder’ seasons

Oro Valley and the region “have a solid core of events,” Melcher said, among them annual festivals, events, and gatherings during the cooler season at Steam Pump Ranch, Oro Valley Marketplace, and the town’s parks.

He wants to “complete the calendar,” identifying events during the shoulder seasons of May-August, and September-October, that can attract visitors because they’re early in the morning, during the evening, indoors or shaded from the heat of day. A food-truck roundup, and additional book signings at Steam Pump, might be ways to attract more guests.

The town plans to reach out to organizations creating or hosting events — among them, Tohono Chul Park, and Oro Valley’s two resorts — to create “something that resounds with the community,” Melcher said.

One such possibility is a plein air art contest suggested by Art State Arizona. Oro Valley is “investigating” that concept, Melcher said, using prize money as a way to lure Arizona painters to outdoor locations in the community.

“We wouldn’t incur any additional staff costs or effort,” Melcher said. “There is nothing to create additional work for staff.”

Melcher sees plein air art as a third pilot effort, along with the resumption of public art tours, and the town-supported installation of Ignacio Garcia’s mural “Twilight Sonoran” at Tohono Chul Park, to get more visitors into the community.

Not too much in capital

Staff’s recommendation on sports tourism suggested that Oro Valley “not” consider enhancements or capital improvements “that could lead to additional or expanded tournament opportunities.

“We want to utilize our existing facilities, and leverage those as much as possible” without major capital investment, Melcher said.

That said, he recommends “a complete analysis” of sports and cultural facilities to see if there are improvements “of a nominal cost that could result in increased estimated economic impact, or the town’s ability to be competitive when bidding for tournaments,” staff writes.

As an example, more shade structures at Steam Pump Ranch and Naranja Park might attract more cultural events and sports tournaments, he said.

“My emphasis is always to make sure either” an immediate return on investment can be achieved with a capital request, “or a short payback term not to exceed five years,” Melcher said.

Guidance into the future

In its preface, the plan is identified as a “strategic, community-rooted roadmap for strengthening and guiding the town’s leisure tourism economy over the next 10 years.”

It is intended to show tourism in Oro Valley “is not simply about attracting more visitors, but enhancing the quality of life for residents, preserving the community’s natural and cultural assets, and creating meaningful economic opportunities that align with local values.”

The plan is “option-driven,” not “mandate-driven,” Melcher told the governing board.

“This is a plan, but it’s inherently flexible,” he said in a subsequent interview. “We’ll take advantage of things, conditions, trends and recommendations.”