Tucson employment opportunities in the Tucson metropolitan area continues to grow, though growth slowed during 2002. Tourism accounts for one of every 10 jobs and adds over $1.8 billion per year to the local economy. Travel and tourism produce 40,000 jobs in all and has been one of the most rapidly growing industries in Tucson. After 9/11,Tucson International Airport (TIA) projected a worst-case scenario for 2002, which included a 25 percent reduction in passenger traffic and a $4 million loss in revenue. However, the airport finished out the year with only 3.3 percent fewer passengers than in 2001, which was a record-breaking year. Revenues increased by 1.7 percent.
One way that Tucson has encouraged the expansion of employment opportunities is through the implementation of an economic cluster strategy. Tucson has become a leader and a model in this area. An economic cluster is a geographic concentration of interdependent competitive firms in related industries that
do business with each other. Clusters help attract businesses to an area and create a spawning ground for start-up companies. The cluster strategy has lead the manufacturing employment in metropolitan Tucson to more than double in the past ten years.
Credit: Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
