How will Surprise stay as a tourist destination in a time of COVID-19?

A fourth in a series of Q&As with candidates who have qualified for ballot for the Aug. 4 Surprise city election, as well as two candidates who have qualified as official write-ins:

MAYOR — Skip Hall

Message safety and execute on it because once we put the message out there they have to execute on it when they come through cleanliness and distancing.

DISTRICT 2 — Alyson Cline

The Tourism Department is working with Major League Baseball and others to promote local events that will bring in tourists. Work with Surprise hotels, merchants and restaurants to accommodate appropriate health safety measures.

DISTRICT 2 — Wendell Fountain

This truly is a challenge, but our city has a lot to offer visitors. Though we are a growing city, we still have a small city charm. We also offer much of what large cities do relative to entertainment and dining out. In addition, to allay fears about this virus, we have excellent world-class healthcare services in the area. As soon as is practicable, we must resume our sports activities such as spring training for the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers. In addition, we have excellent golf courses in and around the community.

DISTRICT 3 — Patrick Duffy

Our Sports and Tourism department has been working very hard to bring events in the city within the given restrictions and have done so by adding baseball tournaments for the next three months in our city and providing direct revenue while also supporting the local hotels and restaraunts.

DISTRICT 3 — Greg Norberg

My first experience in Surprise was as a tourist 17 years ago. My family and I were drawn to Surprise for many reasons including the neighborhood parks; sports opportunity for our kids; and the White Tank Mountains. While I love our city and sports, Surprise already lacks tourism so to focus on what we will do during COVID-19 is to get stuck in the pandemic. Instead, we should be looking to the future and how we’re going to shape Surprise into becoming a tourist destination in the West Valley.

Recently, the City Council paid an outside firm to do a cost analysis for a resort. The firm offered one option only; said we were not ready; and our councilman accepted the result without question. However, one of the most vital jobs of a councilman is to effectively communicate the vision of the future of Surprise to the city manager. 

We need a cost analysis that includes several options; otherwise your tax dollars are wasted on an incomplete analysis. We need different room capacities, different themes; such as a golf theme, spa theme, tropical theme or a combination of two or three. A resort should be a place where our friends and family enjoy coming to visit; a place where we can have weddings, proms, business meetings; restaurants, and boutiques. A resort where, as residents, we can visit and meet our friends for lunch or dinner is just one amenity needed in Surprise.

Additionally, we need your input to find out what kind of entertainment and tourist attractions you would like brought into the city. Whether it’s miniature golf; a movie theater/restaurant; roller/ice skating rink; a water park; shopping and restaurants; outdoor concerts; we have to act now. The opportunities are coming to the Valley and we need to be ready. 

DISTRICT 4 — Ken Remley

Mr. Remley is running unopposed and did not submit an answer.

DISTRICT 5 — David Sanders

We are currently working on maintaining Surprise as a tourist destination with our Sports and Tourism Department and our Emergency Manager. Safety is our priority and we have spent a lot of time researching best practices to maintain that safety and maintain CDC guidelines. Summer baseball tournaments, which are slated to begin in June, are critical for our tourism strategy. These tournaments provided a 50% increase in bed tax revenues last year. They also add revenue with sales tax for our local restaurants and retail. Surprise is a tourism destination, and we intend to keep it that way.

DISTRICT 5 — Jack Hastings

The city lost $8 million dollars in sales tax revenue in April due to COVID-19. The larger, long-term threat to tourism in Surprise is the lack of attracting people to our city for family-friendly entertainment. Spring training is a great revenue source, but it only lasts a few months out of the year. We need to diversify our year-round entertainment opportunities in Surprise for all residents from our seniors to our college students. Drawing tourists and giving residents options for entertainment in Surprise helps us capture more of those tax dollars in the city and put them to work for us. 

WRITE-IN — Cheryl Packham, mayor

The city of Surprise will need to adjust quickly to provide new and unique offerings to ensure that we become a destination location for those looking to escape the larger cities. We will need to embrace the remote work lifestyle and provide activities that align with smaller groups. Surprise has a lot of opportunities to provide a unique experience for tourists by working with the resources we already have.

WRITE-IN — Kawika Henderson, District 5

• Encourage more outdoor sporting activities
• Encourage more hotels developers
• Promote and work towards building a town square and entertainment district 
• Surprise needs its own identity from Sun City to promote more tourism and expansion.

NEXT WEEK: What is the top issue facing your district (or city for mayor) specifically?