Tucson at a Glance
Location: Southern Arizona
Access: Tucson International Airport; interstates 10 and 19
Hotel Rooms: 16,708
Contact:
Visit Tucson
520-624-1817
visittucson.org
Tucson Convention Center
Built: 1971, renovated 2024
Exhibit Space: 233,000 total square feet
Other Spaces: five meeting rooms two gallerias, four show offices and the Grand Lobby. The Leo Rich Theater, The Linda Ronstadt Music Hall and Tucson Arena are also on-site.
Meeting Spaces
Tanque Verde Ranch
Built: 1968, The Barn added in 2019
Event Space: 23,776+ square feet
Other spaces: one-acre Cottonwood Grove for outdoor events
Tohono Chul Gardens, Galleries and Bistro
Built: 1985, started renovations in 2025
Event Space: Four indoor and outdoor spaces
Meeting Hotels
JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa
Guest Rooms: 575
Meeting Space: 115,182 square feet
Loews Ventana Canyon Resort
Guest Rooms: 398
Meeting Space: 37,000 indoor square feet, 46,000 square feet of outdoor venues
The Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa
Guest Rooms: 487
Meeting Space: 64,000 indoor square feet, 45,000 outdoor square feet
Who’s Meeting in Tucson
TravelCon 2025
Attendees: 1,000
Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Annual Meeting
Attendees: 650
International Baccalaureate
Attendees: 400
Flanked on both sides by Saguaro National Park, Tucson — Arizona’s second-largest city — boasts more than 300 days of sunshine annually. Top-notch resorts and city life intermingle with surrounding mountain ranges, stately saguaro forests, red-orange sunsets and infinite opportunities for stargazing. Coyotes and javelinas can be seen while hiking, horseback riding or even playing golf as the animals sun themselves on a championship course. In 2025, Tucson celebrated its 10th anniversary as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
Destination Highlights
Tucson’s moniker, “The Old Pueblo,” refers to its history as an ancient settlement and Spanish presidio. Walking tours highlight the re-created Spanish fort built in 1775 and Barrio Libre, the largest collection of 19th-century adobe houses in the nation. Guided tours of the still-active San Xavier del Bac Mission showcase the “White Dove of the Desert.” As Arizona’s oldest European structure built in 1692, it’s a masterpiece of Spanish Colonial architecture.
“For over 4,000 years, Indigenous people have grown crops, and our cuisine reflects our large Native American, Mexican and Chinese communities,” said Mo Olivas, communications manager for Visit Tucson. “Our robust food scene reflects our culture and history.”
Outdoor diversions lie at Tucson’s doorstep. Sabino Canyon Recreation Area offers hiking for beginners and experts. Opt for a stroll along the paved Sabino Canyon Trail, hop a tram or hike the moderate Seven Falls Trail that rewards trekkers with natural pools for wading or swimming. Mountain biking is popular for all skill levels, and horseback riding allows visitors to explore the desert and mountain landscape.
More than 300 movies and TV shows have been created at Old Tucson, located between Saguaro National Park and Tucson Mountain Park. This working movie set and cultural heritage village hosts living history presentations, museum exhibits, stunt shows, saloon musicals and tours in its locomotive steam engine.
Major Meeting Spaces
Downtown, the Tucson Convention Center offers an 8,962-seat indoor arena, two performing arts venues, 233,000 square feet of new and remodeled event space, and in-house catering. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the complex showcases Brutalist architecture and innovative landscape design.
Nestled in Tucson Mountain Park, the 575-room JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa is surrounded by the area’s densest saguaro forest. Guests gather around glowing firepits for the nightly “Legend of Arriba Abajo” tequila toast on the expansive terrace overlooking the cityscape. Renovated meeting facilities with floor-to-ceiling windows and spacious patios bring the outdoors inside. Southern Arizona’s largest ballroom provides 19,836 square feet. Amenities include six restaurants; hiking trails directly from the property; a heated pool with lazy river; complimentary morning yoga; and a daily golf clinic and range privileges at the resort’s 27-hole Arnold Palmer signature course. In 2026, guest room renovations will be completed.
Tucked into the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, the 398-room Loews Ventana Canyon Resort exudes laid-back luxury. Highlights include two heated pools, a paved nature trail leading to an 80-foot waterfall and Hole No. 3 on one of two Tom Fazio-designed championship courses played across a canyon of cacti. Renovated guest rooms boast generous balconies or patios. Facilities include three ballrooms, meeting rooms with spectacular views and the outdoor Coyote Corral, featuring a stage, open grill and barbeque menu. Complimentary activities range from drop-in pickleball and tennis to stargazing, fitness classes and yoga.
The 486-room Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa recently completed a multimillion-dollar meeting and guest room renovation. Meeting space totals 109,000 square feet, with outdoor terraces and lawns affording panoramic mountain views for events ranging from several thousand attendees to private wine dinners for 35 guests. Complimentary shuttle service is available within a 3-mile radius, and daily shuttles take guests to Sabino Canyon and shopping experiences. Perks include three heated pools, live music on the patios, theme nights, two 18-hole Jack Nicklaus signature golf courses and complimentary morning meditation, fitness classes and stargazing.
Distinctive Venues
Pima Air & Space Museum hosts events among more than 400 vintage and modern aircraft. Numerous event spaces include Flight Central in Hanger No. 1, which accommodates up to 300 guests with in-house catering. The newly opened Tucson Military Vehicle Museum welcomes casual events surrounded by more than 65 vehicles and tanks. Tram tours and Humvee rides are available.
Dining options abound. El Charro Cafe, founded in 1922, reigns as the nation’s oldest Mexican restaurant in continuous operation by one family. Credited for the invention of the chimichanga, El Charro serves traditional Northern Mexico-Sonoran and Tucson-style Mexican dishes featuring ranch-to-table natural beef and chicken. Casual dining and pickleball go together at Corbett’s, where quirky indoor and outdoor event spaces accommodate 20 to 1,000 attendees.
“Whiskey Del Bac makes their whiskey on-site and is great for smaller groups or private tastings,” Olivas said. “Tours are popular, and the entire distillery can be rented out for a group event.”
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum hosts receptions and dinners with mountain panoramas for groups under 150. The museum combines a zoo, botanical garden, art gallery and aquarium, and its Raptor Flight program offers a bird-centric team-building experience. Named one of the World’s 10 Best Botanical Gardens by Travel + Leisure Magazine, Tohono Chul’s paths wind through themed gardens providing lush event spaces with in-house catering. The permanent collection features more than 350 objects ranging from ceramics to sculpture and paintings. Offerings include bird walks, nature journaling and live music under the stars.
After the Meeting
Tucson’s exceptionally dark skies and minimal light pollution earned its place as DarkSky International’s headquarters. Attendees can opt for a night under the stars using Tucson’s downloadable self-guided Astro Trail or with a guided tour. From Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium on the University of Arizona campus to Kitt Peak National Observatory, home to one of the world’s largest collections of optical telescopes, stargazers will be enthralled.
The six-block Historic Fourth Avenue shopping district is home to more than 100 funky shops, restaurants, coffeehouses and nightclubs. On Tucson’s west side, the Mercado District boasts more than 20 locally owned shopping and dining options.
“The Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase takes place in February and around Labor Day with smaller shows throughout the year,” Olivas said. “More than 6,700 vendors at 50 locations sell at all price points.”
Colossal Cave Mountain Park’s crystal-filled caverns once sheltered stagecoach robbers but are now open for guided tours six stories underground. Horseback lunch rides or sunset trail rides through the park’s La Posta Quemada Ranch follow the old National Mail Stagecoach Route. Further south, guided tours at Kartchner Caverns State Park showcase massive, multicolored cave formations via paved walkways.
Day trips to the nearby towns of Tubac, Tombstone and Bisbee tout specialty shopping and historic attractions. Tubac, an artist colony 45 miles south of Tucson, supports more than 90 shops and galleries as well as the Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company. Tombstone celebrates Old West appeal. Bisbee’s copper-mining history is chronicled at the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum, and the Copper Queen Mine conducts tours.
