March 17, 2019

Mexico's Efforts to Boost Border Economy Could Also Benefit Arizona

Shoppers from Mexico spend billions in Arizona annually.

A healthier economy along Mexico's northern border could provide a windfall for Arizona, given the estimated $2.3 billion shoppers from Mexico already spend in the state annually. On average, the ports of entry record more than 23 million trips from Mexico each year. Visit Tucson is one organization tracking the numbers. Felipe Garcia serves as executive vice president of the group's Mexico marketing department, Vamos a Tucson. He discussed factors that encourage tourism from Mexico.

"We don’t rebate sales tax in Arizona. … Most of our revenue at a local level comes from sales tax," Garcia said. "We all benefit from that Mexican national coming with money in their pockets to spend money in our community."

Arizona 360
Arizona 360 airs Fridays at 8:30 p.m. on PBS 6 and Saturdays at 8 p.m. on PBS 6 PLUS. See more from Arizona 360.
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona