View From Afar S2, E15: IPW 2026 | Ron Price on the Phoenix People Don’t Know

Welcome to a special IPW 2026 series of View From Afar. In this episode, recorded live from the conference floor, Visit Phoenix president and CEO Ron Price sits down with Afar deputy editor Michelle Baran to talk about a city that’s been quietly reinventing itself—and why so many first-time visitors leave saying, “I had no idea.”

Ron has worked in tourism for 30 years, with a career that spans Marriott, Visit San Antonio, and the Arlington Texas Convention and Visitors Bureau. He joined Visit Phoenix in 2021, and under his leadership the city has hosted the Super Bowl, the Women’s Final Four, and—next year—the NBA All-Star Game.

In 2024 he launched the Phoenix Sports and Events Commission, finally giving the country’s fifth-largest city a coordinated way to compete for major events. He’s also helping the destination navigate a rapidly diversifying economy, a softening Canadian market, and the perception problem that comes with being a desert city most travelers think they already understand.

Transcript

Michelle: I’m Michelle Baran, deputy editor at Afar, and welcome to View From Afar, a podcast that spotlights the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. And in this special series, I’m coming to you live from the floor of IPW the annual travel conference organized by the U.S. Travel Association to share the best of America with the rest of the world. It’s a pivotal moment right now. The U.S. is preparing to cohost the FIFA World Cup and celebrate its 250th anniversary, even as international travel arrivals are down and global events are affecting travel across the world. But the reasons we travel haven’t changed. In fact, they’ve become more important than ever. Joy and connection. So we’re talking to industry leaders about how their destinations are pivoting in a tough world, how they’re giving travelers experiences to smile about and making visitors feel welcome.

My guest today is Ron Price, president and CEO of Visit Phoenix. Ron has deep ties to the tourism world. He’s worked in the industry for 30 years. He was a Marriott executive for more than a decade, then oversaw business development at Visit San Antonio as an assistant executive director. He’s also served as president and CEO of the Arlington, Texas, Convention and Visitors Bureau before moving to Phoenix. When Ron joined Visit Phoenix in 2021, a major focus was positioning the city as an events and sports powerhouse. He oversaw the development of the Sports and Events Commission in 2024, which has since secured the 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four and NBA All Star game. We’ll get into how Phoenix is preparing for a big year of happenings, Ron’s focus on international visitors, and where he would send a savvy traveler beyond the obvious in Phoenix.

Thanks for joining us from View From Afar. So I have to say, I just got back from Phoenix not too long ago. I went for spring break. I took my kids on the classic Arizona road trip, Grand Canyon, Sedona and ended in Phoenix. And we stayed at the Biltmore and it was amazing.

Ron: Isn’t that wonderful?

Michelle: Oh, it rocked my world. Biltmore totally took my breath away because it just was so unexpected. I couldn’t believe that I was able to stay in this living piece of history.

Ron: History is right on. Yeah, I’ve been there just under six years, and I still play tourist. We kind of have a little bit of the embarrassment of riches going on. And the Biltmore is so classic. It’s so special. But it’s the history piece. And think of it, there’s only a handful of these in the country that have that type of historical pill to them that are still living and breathing resorts like that. Yeah.

Michelle: You know, you stepped in to visit Phoenix in 2021. What does Phoenix offer that sort of genuinely surprised you when you took the job?

Ron: Well, I’ll tell you this. You know, prior to coming to Phoenix for about eight years, I would always come out to the desert for spring training. I got a glimpse of the area, so I’d stay up at one of the resorts. We go out to Cactus League facility. When I moved there, I realized really quickly there is so much more to experience, and it really did a paradigm shift in my brain as understanding what Phoenix and the desert is all about.

I think one of the coolest things that I learned really quickly is, yes, it’s the desert, but the Sonoran Desert is the wettest desert in the world. Mhm. So you get all the beautiful cactus out there, kind of going back to playing tourists, you know, getting out and really understanding the lifestyle, the health and wellness aspect of the desert’s incredible. And then you start seeing the creative class growing so fast out there. And for us, it’s really big and I love cultural arts and everything else. And that has really been something that was to me. I just didn’t know.

Michelle: Right.

Ron: And one of the best things I hear is we, you know, welcome millions and millions of visitors from around the world. That’s the best piece that comes back is they had no idea that this was Phoenix or the Valley. We have a great opportunity with Visit Phoenix. We’re actually the greater Phoenix CVB, and we get to represent the entire Valley. And it’s just so eclectic and fun.

Michelle: And you mentioned spring training. When you came on, you were dealing with pandemic recovery, but you were sort of charged with promoting conventions and premier sporting events. So five years along, how are you measuring success on both fronts? And what’s sort of one of the biggest wins you’d like to point to?

Ron: It’s a very hard time coming out of Covid, and Arizona did better than a lot of states. We’re all locked down, but still there were youth and amateur events happening, spacing out that helped us out tremendously. And then you start looking around at the resorts that we have and the large collection of resorts you’re able to space out. And so that really helped us, you know, grow. And I think at the same time, it was a collection of our city leaders, our state leaders, even though, you know, the country was closed down for a while, we were already in motion to really diversifying our economy, working in trades like semiconductor and manufacturing. Well, once Covid stopped, all that started to pay off and coming in. So we started seeing a big influx of business travelers coming in. And with that, business traveler came in more investors to invest in the great products that we have around the state that we as tourists, get to play around with and be a part of.

Michelle: So in 2024, you launched the Phoenix Sports and Events Commission. So what was the goal there and what successes have you seen and what’s the playbook you’re using that other cities maybe aren’t?

Ron: Yeah, kind of along the same lines, in my previous role in Texas, I created a sports commission and I realized how much opportunity there is in youth and amateur sports. And so when I got to Phoenix, partnered with the Bloomberg and did their philanthropies project, we came in, we were evaluating kind of what are the missing pieces? We realized we were the fifth largest city, but the largest city in the country without a sports commission. And so we really focused in on, okay, if we’re going to build it, take all the sports commissions that were ever created. If we’re going to create a brand new one today, what would that look like?

And so what was cool about that is it’s not just about sports, but it’s the events. And we’re known for hosting championships. But for us, it’s like, how do we better engage with our local community, activate areas of the community that have incredible facilities that we can get proactive and help bring more dollars to that part of the community. But the events piece has been a lot of fun because for us, it really is, I talked about it earlier that culture class that’s growing. They needed a place. They needed an outlet. We have so many great ideas, but there’s not a formal team in place to really pull off and help orchestrate pulling these events together. Right. And that’s been a game changer. We created something called Viva Phoenix years ago, and it kind of died during Covid, now it is back stronger than ever. So think of South by when it started. Yeah. And that’s the exciting part for us is now this events team is in there helping grow these cultural events, which honestly is it’s wonderful the community. But visitors are starting to really come in for it.

Michelle: So what are some of the sporting and other events that are in the pipeline that you’re most excited about?

Ron: Well, we just hosted the Women’s Final Four. Okay. Yeah. So that was a lot of fun. And we do a lot of great work with the NCAA. This next year we’re going to be hosting the NBA All star game. The Olympics are coming to America in 2028, getting very close to hosting the Olympic Marathon Trials in Phoenix. That’s in March 2028. And so really leaning into like, what are the things that we’ve never thought about that we could host there? And as our development continues to happen, the facilities grow. Those are the type of things that we’re excited about. We’re really seeing a lot of the youth and amateur stuff take off. Right. And we’re about to host this next year, this year I should say, the world’s gymnastics championships.

Michelle: So I’m just going to ask what kind of youth and amateur sporting events.

Ron: So if this was an Olympic year this would be a qualifier. And so that’s how big this is. And so our downtown will be full of the very best gymnasts all from America.

Michelle: Yeah. And I love that this idea of kind of filling in the gaps. And that’s where the sporting and the events come into play because, you know, it can’t be high season all year long.

Ron: Cannot be.

Michelle: Right? Last year, in an interview, you mentioned that Phoenix is investing in its transportation. Oh yeah. Ahead of all these big events. So what does that investment look like?

Ron: Well, autonomous vehicles Waymo. And so we’re the only city in the nation where Waymo will pick you up at the airport and take you wherever you want to go in the city. We launched that during the Super Bowl that we hosted a few years ago in 2023. And so that was a major investment on our part. And what’s great about Arizona, it is a perfect proving ground for future technology. And so we invested in that. And then here recently, we just announced two new direct flights to Taiwan. A lot of it’s based upon the manufacturing coming in TSMC, the Taiwanese semiconductor company, which is the largest chip manufacturer in the world, setting up their North American operations in Phoenix.

Michelle: Okay.

Ron: Largest international investment ever in the history of America, $165 billion. And so that has really helped us with the transportation growth. In fact, I chair our Sky Harbor Board today, and we are in the throes of our next expansion project because we have so much new demand internationally coming in. We have to build new terminals for space for the planes. And Sky Harbor is already one of the top airports in the country. So it’s a good problem to have. But that too is just like, you know, the diversity from 30, 40 years ago. We were such a tourism-driven economy has diversified so much more. Now we have business travelers coming in, international travelers coming in, which is really great for us.

Michelle: Absolutely. I think a lot of destinations learned that lesson during the pandemic, that you need to diversify and sort of have a few, you know, other areas that drive the economy. Are there other areas that you would like to see greater investment in?

Ron: You know, transportation is so important to move our visitors around and I think continuously to be bold in working with these companies that are coming out, whether, you know, we have the robotaxis coming out from Tesla that will be in our state before the end of the year, I believe. We have an incredible light rail system, which is very expensive. Right? And so when cities really look at building a light rail, it’s a very big investment. And the fact that we have an incredible system in place is wonderful. We’re the 48th state. Yeah. So we’re still growing fast, which we a lot of compliments we get is it’s so clean. The roadways are amazing. And because we’re still young, right? And part of that has been a blessing because our infrastructure has been well thought out and placed the right way. So traffic moves very easy. But those are the kind of the highlights that we want to continue investing in and making sure that, you know, what, if we have an event downtown and you want to get up to the Grand Canyon, like what does that look like for the visitor? So I think you’ll continue to see a lot more autonomous vehicles hit the road. That light rail system will continue to expand. And our airport, as you’ve witnessed, I mean, you’re only eight minutes away from literally like getting off the plane and out, you know, to our downtown. So it’s a huge opportunity for us.

Michelle: So Phoenix is a major destination for snowbird and group travel from Canada. Yes. We know Canadian visitation to the US is down quite a bit. So how is Visit Phoenix actively working to keep that market. And are you seeing it stabilize somewhat or still trending down?

Ron: So we’ve seen it stabilize, which is the good news. And because we have such a large snowbird population and Canadians are very prevalent in Arizona, in fact, we have a lot of Canadian companies that have set up their offices in Arizona. That’s been helpful. And I think when we saw the numbers come in from the nation, we weren’t too far behind that, meaning we did better than a lot of other states only because we had that built in snowbird population.

But now we’re starting to see it stable. And hopefully in the years to come, we’ll see it pick up. We monitored all the time because that is a vitally important visitor for us. Right? We love our Canadians. And I think what we’re doing, we’ve never stopped marketing and talking to our Canadian travelers. And I think what’s important for us is to make sure that we’re there and we’re up in the market. We’re talking we’re we’re we’re being very transparent about how welcoming we are. It’s a second home for many Canadians. And so it’s been very important for us, especially with all the things that are out of our control taking place, if you will. But for us, it’s like, how do we speak to them and the voice that they want to be spoken to, what are those unique stories? And because we have a long history of Canadians coming in, what is that next adventure for them? What is that next thing that’s unfolding? We miss our Canadian friends, but they’ll come back and we’re making sure that we’re extremely hospitable to that audience.

Michelle: I always wonder, you know, in a moment like this, as marketers, if you pause or if you double down, you know, and you say like, now, you know, even if they’re not ready to come, we still want to keep the lines of communication open because they will be ready. We’ll be here.

Ron: It’s much bigger than the tourism piece. Yeah. I talked about the growing business community. They’re vital to our businesses. You know, we have major Canadian companies that run power and water, and we want to make sure that, you know, we’re there for them, right. And so that’s another big piece is that business traveler from Canada.

Michelle: We’re all feeling it across the entire country. We all want our Canadian friends back.

Ron: Yes, absolutely.

Michelle: So, you know, Phoenix is a strong destination domestically too. Thankfully you mentioned events. It’s known for golf, wellness, and it’s amazing weather. So with domestic travel projected to be strong this year, where do you see some of the emerging markets that you’d like to chase beyond what you’re really known for?

Ron: So thankfully, we have a, we’re a great market for a lot of the states around us. We have a lot of Californians coming in and a lot of people from Utah and Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. But we see more of that growth happening in these unique areas that haven’t always been on our radar, so to speak, as strong as they are. Vegas has been really good for us. We look at data and we invest in data all the time, is we’ve seen more people coming in from Vegas. We’re realizing people are traveling to Vegas for a conference or an event, and they’re coming to Phoenix and Scottsdale afterwards, or vice versa. So we’re really paying attention to that. But we’re also seeing a lot from the the northeast start to come in.

One of the things I talked about when I first got to town was I think we’re an enigma. People don’t really know Phoenix. And it’s especially true when we speak to a lot of our partners in New York and business Associates, and they really didn’t know us. Yeah. And as they’ve become more familiar with us and now they like everyone else, like we experience. Yeah. It’s amazing. Yeah. I had no idea. Right. And a lot of times what their idea of what Phoenix is, the Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner series, that truly is what people thought, right? What the desert would be, right. And when they get out there and see how lush it is and beautiful. And so now we’re changing that perspective in a good way. So we’re starting to see a lot more of these unique markets pop up that normally in our past weren’t there for us.

Michelle: I mean, I’ve always thought that destinations that aren’t so well known or aren’t so advertised actually are in kind of sort of an advantage in a way, because you have a story, you have surprises to share with people who come. That’s true. You know, like a little bit lesser known on like an international scale. It’s just a more interesting story to tell.

Ron: Absolutely. It is an interesting story, and I love that the number one takeaway is I love when people walk away and said, I had no idea whether it’s the culinary scene that’s just taken off or the mixology thing that’s taken off. I give a lot of credit to what Vegas has built. People are going there investing these celebrity chefs, and they’re investing in Vegas and they realize, oh, I can do the same. Just 45 minutes away. And we’re we’re the beneficiary of that. Yeah. And so that cultural class just keeps taking off.

Michelle: It’s interesting too, that that connection to Vegas as being where I always think about like fly and drive markets and, you know, you can fly into Phoenix, you can fly to Vegas and it’s right there and, and.

Ron: It’s a 4-hour drive from Phoenix up to the Grand Canyon. You get to see it all Sedona to Vegas. Yeah, exactly. We’re really leaning into that.

Michelle: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, you both talked a little bit about the weather. There’s pros and cons. Yes. Amazing winters shoulder season. Arguably even better. Hot summers.

Ron: Yes. Hot summers.

Michelle: So what’s your messaging around shoulder and low season travel. And is climate change reshaping how you market the destination?

Ron: Yeah. And it has been for years. So you got to realize we’ve always been hot during the summer. This isn’t brand new for us. Right. And so what’s interesting is growing up in Texas, well, it’s hot in Texas too. And you come out here and it’s hot and humid.

Michelle: Right.

Ron: We’re very transparent about it. And I think what’s been wonderful to see, because of the large collections of hotels and resorts we have, how they have really invested heavily into their water experiences, the shading. So even for us, our staycations in the summer, we’ll go to one of our incredible resorts and it feels like you’re not home. You’re in a place that isn’t unbearable. Right. And especially in these incredible resorts that have spas and great restaurants. And what’s great too is there’s been because we’ve always been hot, there’s a large amount of investment that is in our museums or in our shopping and all indoors. I was laughing with someone. It’s like, well, you know, the air conditioning must be through the roof out there. And it’s like, you got to realize the companies that are manufacturing this equipment, a lot of them are based here because it’s the best proving ground. But you know, another thing too, is with the city over the last decade for sure has really made an important decision to invest in a heat mitigation for our community. Well, that pays off in our downtown, everywhere else, for our visitors. Yeah. And so we typically have always seen a little bit of a lull in the summer season. Now we’re starting to see that flatten out. Which is interesting. I give a lot of credit to just the investment that’s been made. Right. It’s not unbearable. Yeah. And you know, for us, it’s like, yeah, I’ve lived all over the country and when it’s hot, it’s hot. You stay indoors, right? We’ve invested in that.

Michelle: And it’s interesting because when I was at the Biltmore, they were talking about their summer programming and how people don’t realize like, like anywhere when you have to work a little bit harder, then the programming is more interesting. They’re going to offer more and they’re doing more to entice people to come. And they’ve got the movie nights. And so I thought it was this sort of interesting, almost little hack, you know, that if you come during this time that is seen as sort of off season, you get all these little perks and added benefits.

Ron: You know, I’ll tell you something else. Well, we’re not on the daylight savings time, so our clock stays the same.

Michelle: Oh, really? That’s my dream.

Ron: Yes. Our clock stays the same. Well, the sun comes up earlier in the summer. Well, at 4:30, 5 a.m., I peek through your window a little bit and it’s cool in the mornings, right? And so we find those people that still want to go climb camelback, or they want to do yoga out in the lawns or are all these incredible, I would say, more health for type of activities. They’re doing that in the morning times and they get back and it’s still early in the day. Yeah. And then they can take advantage of all the other fun things that we have. And it is it’s 30, 40 degrees cooler in the morning than it is in the peak of the day.

Michelle: I love a good excuse to get my kids out of bed earlier. So yes. So lastly, an Afar audience, our travelers who want to sort of skip the obvious what’s an under the radar Phoenix experience you’d send them to?

Ron: I love this question because this is me. I talked about the culinary scene really exploding. In fact, we’re now going to be represented in the Michelin program because of how it’s growing. Yeah. So we’re very excited. Our chefs are incredible. But the mixology has taken off and I didn’t know this moving in. But we have some of the top mixologists in the country in Phoenix and Scottsdale, and the investment that follows them has been incredible. So I don’t know about you, but I love finding like a good speakeasy or something.

Michelle: Oh, yeah.

Ron: The amount of speakeasies we have that have popped up around downtown and throughout the valley are incredible. And they’re these hidden gems because you got to think in the nature of a speakeasy, it’s kind of like we don’t advertise it a lot, but they’re there. They have gotten so much attention. Yeah. And I love it for the owners of these places, but it’s just all these type of unique places to see that growing right now. That’s that off the beaten path piece. That’s like, okay, what is something I would never experience? We have a speakeasy. You check in, I think thirty people at a time can go in. You’re on a Pan Am airplane. So all the windows are LEDs.

Michelle: Oh, it’s so cool.

Ron: You take off and you land in San Francisco. I believe you have the stewardesses from the Pan AM era. The mixology is amazing, but it’s a whole experience that takes maybe, I don’t know, 1 hour and 20, 30 minutes. That is amazing. Yeah. And now they’re all kind of copying this. We have one that’s a train ride in Scottsdale. That is phenomenal. Those are the things that are amazing. I think too is, you know, if you love history, if you love American history, the indigenous history that we have.

Michelle: Yeah.

Ron: Every time someone goes out and visits our indigenous areas, they always come back just more enriched.

Michelle: Right.

Ron: And that’s special.

Michelle: Yeah.

Ron: And it’s because we have 22 indigenous nations right there in the valley.

Michelle: Right.

Ron: And so they’re all accessible and they’re very hospitable.

Michelle: Well now I’m going to put all the pieces together. I’m going to come back to Phoenix in the summer. Yes. And we’re going to get up early. We’re going to go out and do our hike in the morning. Then we’re going to do pool time, and then we’re going to go to a speakeasy in the evening. So we’ll do the whole all your tips. I’m going to put them all together and put it to the test.

Ron: I love it. Well you’re welcome any time as well as any visitor out there. So thank you.

Michelle: Thank you so much for joining us from View From Afar.

Thanks for joining us for this episode of View From Afar. In the show notes, you’ll find links to everything we discussed today, the website and social media handles for Visit Phoenix and our recent coverage of Phoenix on Afar. And be sure to follow along this week to hear more interviews with industry experts. You can find more Views from Afar on and be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok. We’re @AfarMedia. If you enjoyed today’s exploration, I hope you’ll come back for more great interviews. Subscribing always makes that easy, and be sure to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platforms. It helps other travelers find it.

This has been View From Afar, a production of Afar Media. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland, with assistance from Billie Cohen and me, Michelle Baran. Music composition from Epidemic Sound. This podcast is part of the Airwave Media Podcast Network. Visit to listen and subscribe to its other fine shows like Culture Kids and The Explorers podcast.