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Photo: Grand Canyon National Park
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A Brief Update of News Around Arizona
September 2020
The Arizona Office of Tourism is pleased to provide this monthly update of new and noteworthy items regarding Arizona’s tourism industry. Please use this link to access all images.
For more information, contact:
- Becky Blaine at [email protected]
- Kim Todd at [email protected]
- Marjorie Magnusson at [email protected]
- Joanna Tejeda at [email protected]
Having problems viewing this message? View it online
CULINARY
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New French restaurant comes to Scottsdale
Laurent Halasz, the acclaimed restaurateur behind FIG & OLIVE, opened his first restaurant concept in Scottsdale. FRANCINE, a fine dining experience featuring a French Mediterranean menu in a sophisticated, plant-filled 5,000 square-foot space. Among the signature dishes, guests can enjoy Grilled Octopus, Zucchini Terrine, Salad Nicoise, Salmon Carpaccio, Spring Pea Ravioli, Grilled Mediterranean Branzino, Seared Duck a la Provencal. For lunch and afternoon, the menu offers salads, carpaccio, pizza, and shareable dishes. FRANCINE is located at the luxury wing of Scottsdale Fashion Square, alongside Nobu, Toca Madera and Ocean 44.
Award-winning Elote Café moved locations
The award-winning Elote Café in Sedona has moved to a 4,800-square-foot building, only 1.5 miles from the original location. Seating approximately 130 people, customers can enjoy a large patio that doubles as a waiting and hangout area, plenty of on-site parking, custom made copper tables, and a new state-of-the-art kitchen. Chef/owner, Jeff Smedstad's bold regional ingredients and traditional Mexican recipes with a creative twist unite to create some of the best food in the Southwest. The new location will open in April 2020.
Elote Cafe’s response to COVID-19.
New restaurant opens in Clifton
Cliftons newest family owned restaurant, Daly Diner, serves traditional American food and homemade desserts. Melanie and Cheryl, the owners who happen to be mother and daughter, are very excited to open Clifton’s newest restaurant. The restaurant features an ice cream parlor offering special homemade treats.
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ATTRACTIONS
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New guided hiking company offers excursions with llamas
Family-owned and operated, Arizona Backcountry Llamas offers a variety of guided llama hiking excursions around Prescott. Hikers will explore the granite boulders, cool pines, and one of the many lake areas. Owners Chris and Janice Dunn have spent decades exploring Arizona and the west, packing with llamas. The guiding business allows the couple to share their enthusiasm for Arizona’s natural and cultural history. The Dunn’s ranch is home to four male llamas, Benny, Cisco, Stuart, and Dudley, and five female llamas, Anij, Roo, Jenga, Blanca, and Izzy.
Versace opens at Scottsdale Fashion Square
Iconic Italian luxury brand Versace opened their first-to-market store at Scottsdale Fashion Square. Founded in 1978 in Milan, Gianni Versace S.r.l. is one of the leading international fashion design houses and a symbol of Italian luxury world-wide. It designs, manufactures, distributes and retails fashion and lifestyle products including haute couture, prèt-à-porter, accessories, jewelry, watches, eye wear, fragrances, and home furnishings all bearing the distinctive Medusa logo.
Versace’s response to COVID-19.
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HOTEL NEWS
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New Hilton hotel opens in Tempe
Arizona’s first Canopy by Hilton hotel opens in the heart of downtown Tempe. Canopy by Hilton Tempe Downtown, offers a local experience with a boutique feel, bringing 198 spacious guest rooms and suites, along with approximately 5,000 square feet of meeting and event space. The hotel features the East Valley's only full-service rooftop pool and bar on the 14th floor, providing a scenic venue for gathering, tapas-style light bites and a curated local cocktail menu, as well as a signature restaurant on the ground floor. Centrally located, the hotel is about five miles from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and steps away from some of the area’s finest shopping centers, culinary offerings, entertainment destinations such as Desert Financial Arena and local landmarks including Tempe Town Lake, Mill Avenue District and Tempe Beach Park.
Canopy by Hilton Tempe Downtown response to COVID-19.
The Tuxon, a modern boutique hotel coming to Tucson in Summer 2020
A modern boutique hotel located in the heart of Tucson, The Tuxon has 112 guestrooms, a pool with cabanas, a bike shed, a fitness center, and an onsite restaurant and bar. The room’s interior is designed with rustic wood fixtures, leather, potted succulents, and artwork that resembles the desert. The restaurant’s menu, curated by Jess Keene and Drew Record offers fondue, crudités, marinated veggies, puffy pastries, chips and dips, all driven by market fresh seasonality-- and full of Southwestern flair.
The Tuxon’s response to COVID-19.
PR Contact: Amanda Rich
Email: [email protected]
VH Spa adds global inspired treatments
The Jet Set Crowd menu at VH Spa inside the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale features treatments inspired by far-flung locales around the globe. The Istanbul, Hammam Experience is a fragrant massage and scrub featuring coffee, lemon blossom, quince, tangerine and fig, while the Honolulu, Lomi Lomi features wave-like massage strokes and tropical aromatherapy to bring deep relaxation. Try a colder-clime treatment with Helsinki, Nature, which will envelop you in a mist of cloud milk and Arctic berry, or the Reykjavik, Icelandic Moonflower Signature Treatment that pairs sixty minutes of customized massage with a full-body scrub or hydration wrap featuring exotic, rich scents. The Edo, Shiatsu Experience focuses on the traditional healing bodywork of Japan, it begins with a relaxing cup of green tea followed by stretches, compressions, and acupressure, finishing with a guided meditation. Each treatment is 90 minutes and $230; the Lomi Lomi treatment is also offered at 60 minutes for $160. Included is access to the hotel’s two pools, valet parking, and a drink voucher to use anywhere on property. VH Spa reopens on October 1.
The Hotel Valley Ho’s response to COVID-19.
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ACCOLADES
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Aji Spa and Kai receive highest honors in Forbes Travel Guide’s 2020 Star Awards
Forbes Travel Guide unveiled its annual Star Rating list, awarding Aji Spa and Kai restaurant at Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass with its highest rating, the Five-Star Award. Kai has maintained the Five Star accolade for 12 years and is still the only restaurant in the state with the distinction. This marks the first time Aji Spa has been bestowed the Five Star award and is the only Native American-owned spa to earn Five Stars. The spa has undergone a rigorous process of approval from Tribal Elders to ensure authenticity, correct use and respect of the culture and attention to every detail. Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass, located in Phoenix, is now the only resort in Arizona to boast both a Five Star spa and Five Star restaurant within its collection of luxury amenities.
The Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass response to COVID-19.
Presidio Museum receives grants to support operations and programming during COVID-19 crisis
The Presidio Museum receives major grants for two agencies to support operations and programming during COVID-19 crisis. Arizona Humanities awarded the museum $7,550 to support future Living History Days and Turquoise Trail Walks in addition to creating more virtual experiences for the museum. The museum received $4,000 from the William Edwin Hall Fund of the Community Foundation of Southern Arizona to provide scholarships for children to attend the Museum’s summer camps as well as to create more accessible online programming for students. Developing these virtual “field trips” will be done in conjunction with the creation of virtual educational materials for teachers and students mentioned previously.
Presidio Museum’s response to COVID-19.
GENERAL
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Butterfly Wonderland earns Certified Autism Center designation
The International Board of Credentialing and Continued Education Standards (IBCCES) is proud to announce Butterfly Wonderland as the second attraction in Arizona—and first butterfly education facility—to become a Certified Autism Center (CAC). The CAC designation means that visitors and families with children who have autism and other sensory differences can enjoy the best possible experience that caters to their needs. To achieve today’s CAC accreditation, Butterfly Wonderland completed the critical training required by IBCCES to recognize the needs of guests on the spectrum and provide necessary facility options for this demographic.
Butterfly Wonderland’s response to COVID-19.
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation announces accessibility upgrades at Taliesin West
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation announced today a number of recently completed and coming-soon ADA-compliant upgrades at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, marking a new era of inclusivity for the UNESCO World Heritage Site. As the historic site has remained closed to visitors this summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Foundation has utilized the absence of foot traffic in conjunction with $250,000 in grant funding to complete the projects on an accelerated schedule.
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VIRTUAL TOURS
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon's online tours will let you explore remote areas throughout the park using imaging tools.
Musical Instrument Museum (MIM)
While MIM’s galleries are closed, stay connected with a virtual visit.
Phoenix Art Museum
Experience virtual exhibition tours, talks, lectures, and other art-related video content on #PhxArtYouTube channel.
Lowell Observatory
As part of Lowell Observatory's efforts to stay connected and continue the mission of science education, the observatory is offering a number of opportunities to stay engaged online through live streams and other digital content.
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COVID-19 Updates in Arizona
For visitor guidance due to COVID-19 such as mask-wearing, a list of tourism-related reopenings or closures, and a link to public health guidelines, click here: https://www.visitarizona.com/covid-19/. Some attractions are open year-round and some are open seasonally or move to seasonal hours. To ensure the places you want to see are open on your travel dates, please check their website for hours of operation.
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100 N 7th Avenue, Suite 400 | Phoenix, AZ 85007
(866) 275-5816 | (602) 364-3700