Destination marketing organizations, or DMOs, promote a city or region as a place to visit for leisure travel, meetings, conventions, and major events. Their goal is to attract visitors who stay in hotels, spend money at local businesses, and support jobs throughout the community. DMOs lead marketing and sales efforts, work with meeting planners and travel professionals, and help recruit major events that generate overnight stays and visitor spending. This visitor activity strengthens the local economy and helps communities remain competitive. 

Visit Phoenix is a private, not-for-profit organization that markets Greater Phoenix as a year-round leisure and meetings destination. We promote the region to national and international audiences and provide information to meeting planners, travel professionals, and media. Visit Phoenix also serves as the primary booking agent for the Phoenix Convention Center and helps secure meetings and events across metro Phoenix. Each year, more than 45 million visitors contribute more than $22 billion in direct spending to the regional economy.

A Tourism Improvement Area, or TIA, is a funding model that allows lodging businesses within a defined geographic area to collectively invest in tourism promotion. Under a TIA, participating hotels agree to a small assessment of overnight stays. The funds collected are legally restricted for tourism-related sales and marketing efforts designed to increase visitation and overnight stays. A TIA creates a stable and dedicated source of funding to help a destination remain competitive and grow its visitor economy, without relying on additional taxpayer dollars. 

Tourism is one of Greater Phoenix’s most powerful economic drivers, but it is also highly competitive. Cities across the country invest heavily to attract visitors, conventions, and major events that generate jobs and fuel local business growth.  This visitor activity supports hotels, restaurants, attractions, transportation providers, and thousands of workers across the region. To protect and grow that economic impact, Greater Phoenix must continue marketing itself in key markets and compete for high-value meetings and events. However, traditional public funding for tourism promotion is limited and often unpredictable. A Tourism Improvement Area provides a stable, dedicated funding source that helps ensure Greater Phoenix remains competitive and continues generating visitor spending that strengthens the regional economy. 

A Tourism Improvement Area allows lodging businesses in a defined area to create a dedicated funding source for tourism promotion. If enough hotels support forming a TIA, the proposal moves through a public approval process. Once established, a small assessment is added to overnight hotel stays within the TIA boundaries. The assessment is paid by hotel guests, not local residents, unless they choose to stay at a hotel within the area. The funds collected can only be used for tourism-related sales and marketing efforts outlined in the approved plan, with the goal of increasing visitation and strengthening the local economy. 

A Tourism Improvement Area would provide Greater Phoenix with stable, dedicated funding to support tourism promotion and sales efforts. That funding helps attract more visitors, conventions, and major events, which drives overnight stays and increases visitor spending across the region. More visitation means more revenue for local hotels, restaurants, attractions, and small businesses. It also supports jobs and generates tax revenue that benefits the broader community. By creating a reliable funding source for destination marketing, a TIA helps Greater Phoenix remain competitive with other major U.S. destinations and strengthens the visitor economy to support long-term growth. 

According to Tourism Economics, destinations with Tourism Improvement Areas experience an average 2.1% increase in hotel room demand and a 4.5% increase in hotel room revenue compared to destinations without TIAs. Additionally, Rounds Consulting Group estimates that under a conservative TIA adoption scenario with 35% participation among Arizona hotels and a $2 per room per night assessment, TIAs could generate approximately $20.6 million in dedicated funding for tourism sales and marketing programs. This investment is projected to drive $618.1 million in new visitor spending and generate $142.5 million in state and local tax revenue.

A Tourism Improvement Area applies to lodging businesses located within the designated geographic boundaries of the TIA. Only hotel properties within the approved area are included, and the assessment is applied to overnight stays at those properties. The TIA does not apply to residents, homeowners, or businesses outside the lodging industry. The assessment is not applicable to short-term vacation rentals, area attractions, venues, restaurants, or anything beyond the hotel properties within the designated area. 

The specific lodging businesses included in a Tourism Improvement Area are defined in the approved management plan. In general, TIAs apply to hotels properties within the designated geographic area. Eligibility may be based on factors such as property type, room count, or hotel classification. Details about which properties are included, the assessment rate, targeted sales and marketing plan, and the assessment structure must be approved by 67% of hotels prior to local government consideration. 

The assessment is paid by guests who stay overnight (for 30 days or less) at lodging properties within the Tourism Improvement Area. It appears as a separate line item on a hotel bill, similar to other lodging-related charges. Local residents and businesses do not pay the assessment unless they choose to stay at a hotel within the TIA zone.

Arizona residents do not pay the Tourism Improvement Area assessment unless they stay overnight at a lodging property located within the TIA boundaries. The assessment is only charged to hotel guests as part of an overnight stay of 30 nights or less. It does not apply to residents who do not use a hotel, and it is not paid through property taxes, sales taxes, or other public funding sources.

A tax is a mandatory charge imposed by a government to fund general public services such as public safety, infrastructure, and education. Tax revenue can be used for a wide range of public purposes. An assessment, such as the one used in a Tourism Improvement Area, is a charge applied to a specific group businesses for a defined purpose. TIA funds are legally restricted and can only be used for tourism-related marketing and sales efforts outlined in the approved sales and marketing plan. TIA funds cannot be diverted to other government programs or services. 

The assessment is collected and distributed by the Arizona Department of Revenue. TIA funds are managed and overseen according to the approved TIA management plan. The funds are legally restricted and can only be used for approved tourism-related purposes. These funds are overseen by a board of directors made up primarily of lodging business representatives from within the TIA boundaries. The board provides direction on how funds are spent in accordance with the approved management plan and ensures the assessment is used only for authorized tourism promotion and sales efforts. 

 TIA funds can only be used for tourism-related sales and marketing efforts that increase visitation and overnight stays. This includes activities such as destination advertising, convention, and meeting recruitment, event sales efforts, and promotional campaigns designed to attract visitors to the region. All spending must follow the approved TIA sales and marketing plan, and the funds are legally restricted to tourism promotion purposes. TIA funded programs will vary based on individual community needs and priorities. TIA sales and marketing plans are available for public review.  

Yes. The specific lodging businesses included in a Tourism Improvement Area, as well as the assessment rate, are defined in the approved management plan.

A Tourism Improvement Area is formed through a formal public process. The process begins when lodging businesses within the proposed area submit a petition in support of creating the TIA. Hotels representing at least 67 percent of the total rooms in the proposed area must support the petition for it to move forward. Once the petition threshold is met, the proposed TIA is reviewed through a public hearing and must be approved by the appropriate governing body. This process ensures that the TIA is established transparently and with support from the lodging businesses and the local government.

A Tourism Improvement Area is established for a defined term (in this case it would be a maximum of 10 years), which is outlined in the approved management plan. At the end of the term, the TIA can be renewed through an established renewal process if lodging businesses continue to support it. If it is not renewed, the TIA expires at the end of its approved term. This structure provides accountability and ensures the TIA remains in place only as long as it continues to deliver value and maintain support.

Yes. A Tourism Improvement Area can be dissolved according to the procedures outlined in its approved management plan and under Arizona law. If lodging businesses no longer support the TIA, they can vote annually to dissolve with support from 51% of hotel rooms in the assessed area. Once dissolved, the assessment is no longer collected. The local governing body can also dissolve the TIA under certain circumstances, including misappropriation of monies or violation of any associated laws. This process ensures that the TIA remains accountable to the lodging businesses and the local government. 

A Tourism Improvement Area is based on geographic boundaries that are defined in the approved plan. Those boundaries may align with a single city, or they may include multiple communities if lodging businesses support forming a shared TIA. Each TIA is created through its own formation process, and the assessment structure is specific to that area. This means the assessment rate, participating properties, and program goals can vary depending on the needs of the destination and the lodging businesses involved.

The terms tourism improvement district and tourism improvement area generally refer to the same concept. Both describe a defined area where lodging businesses collectively fund tourism promotion through an assessment of overnight stays. In Arizona, state law specifically uses the term Tourism Improvement Area. Under Arizona statute, the term district cannot be used as part of the legal framework. While the name may vary in other states, the purpose is the same: to create a dedicated funding source for destination marketing and sales efforts that increase visitation and economic impact.

As of 2026, there are 216 tourism improvement areas in 25 U.S. states. Nine additional states are considering legislation. Major competing destinations including Dallas, San Antonio, San Diego, Anaheim, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Nashville, New Orleans, and Los Angeles have established programs that allow lodging businesses to collectively invest in tourism promotion.