‘Room for significant investment’: Visit Albuquerque presents 10-year master plan to Economic Forum

Is Albuquerque as strong as it can be when visitors come here? Is their experience what the city promised them? Is there more that leaders can do to make Albuquerque more attractive?

Those are the questions Tania Armenta, CEO and president of Visit Albuquerque, posed to members of the Economic Forum of Albuquerque on Wednesday morning. Armenta, who has led Visit Albuquerque for close to a decade, presented a snapshot of the organization's 10-year destination master plan — a 121-page document that outlines efforts to boost Albuquerque’s marketability and attractiveness to visitors.

The master plan was formed with the input of a group of local stakeholders and community leaders including Michael Canfield of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and Ben Abruzzo of Sandia Peak Tramway. Dan Fenton, the managing director for global tourism and destination advisory at JLL, assembled a team to put together the plan.

The firm listed priorities and recommendations to grow Albuquerque’s tourism and hospitality scene, like advocating for the activation of Downtown, collaborating with economic development agencies and improving the permitting and licensing processes for tourism-related businesses, which Fenton said could help stimulate growth in the sector.

The master plan’s findings placed Albuquerque in the “emerging performers” category, which “means there’s momentum,” he said.

“It also means … there’s room, significant room, for additional investments,” he said. “So it’s sort of like on the curve of trying to get ourselves, as Tania (Armenta) mentioned, to sort of that next point as a destination.”

Armenta said the local economy has already reaped the benefits of the $2 billion tourism and hospitality sector, noting that Bernalillo County supports around 45,000 jobs in that sector and that travelers account for nearly 7 million overnight stays in the city each year.

She said Visit Albuquerque’s marketing in years past has also heavily contributed to that impact, leading to a 10-point increase in interest in visiting Albuquerque among people in nine target markets and influencing more than 207,000 trips — which resulted in $105 million in direct spending.

“I think it’s fair to say that visitors are a pillar of Albuquerque’s economy,” Armenta said. “I do want to say beyond what can be measured in dollars, we know that tourism promotes cultural exchange, it preserves our historic assets and our traditions.”

But to further grow the sector, Fenton said, increased involvement is needed from both private and public stakeholders.

On the product development side, for instance, an emphasis can be put on exploring partnerships with local farmers, breweries and wineries, as local dining emerged as one of the most popular activities among visitors.

“This opportunity (is) to celebrate the use of local products in restaurants and do it our way,” Fenton said. “We have a cuisine that is unique. Let’s go further. How do we make that cuisine? Where does it come from?”

Fenton also touched on recent efforts in Downtown, like tax increment financing and a business improvement district aimed at revitalizing the area.

“We think those are important opportunities because they provide resources to do the kind of things we’re talking about,” Fenton said. “So yes, it’s funding, but it’s about the how, and how does the tourism industry work together with these funding opportunities to do some of the things we just talked about?”

The master plan can be viewed on Visit Albuquerque’s website at visitalbuquerque.org/albuquerque-destination-master-plan.