Despite a downtrodden economy, winter visitors appear to be returning to Lake Havasu City.

L.J. Frink/News-Herald Photo. There’s plenty of room at Havasu Falls RV Park on State Route 95, for now, but that may not be the case after the holidays. The manager expects the park to be full of winter visitors by January.

Bucking the figures from several other vacation spots in Arizona, the city’s warm climate is bringing in its part-time residents, as numbers from RV parks in the city remain consistent with last year.

“We are pretty much full right now, as anticipated,” Ann Quiggle, manager of Islander RV Park said. “There are a lot of first-timers just driving in for the winter, which is unusual.”

Quiggle said business was pretty typical for this time of year, a statement that may contradict the findings of Arizona State Parks & Recreation. Public Information Officer Monica Enriquez said the percentage of visitors to Lake Havasu City is down 13 percent, thus far, but they are not sure of the cause. She did indicate that that number was not substantial.

The Lake Havasu Convention and Visitors Bureau reported only a 1-percent drop in the number of visitors in October 2008 over last year. They show an increase of almost 675 visitors in October over the same time four years ago.

“Lake Havasu City is capturing a lot of attention,” said Shar Beltran, President and CEO of the CVB. “We are receiving a lot of calls.”

Some repeat visitors are making their return earlier than expected. Quiggle noted that the Islander began to see winter visitors in late September, while others are returning before their reservation dates.

“People with reservations for December are arriving in November,” Tammi Reeder, assistant manager at Crazy Horse Campgrounds said. “We have seen a lot of visitors starting to come back early.”

Crazy Horse has 217 out of 637 monthly slots filled as of Wednesday, but Reeder expects the numbers to pick up after the holidays.

One of the reasons is the number of rollover reservations they received from last year. Many of our visitors are repeat visitors, Reeder said. They start making reservations in February.

Reeder reported Crazy Horse was between 80 and 90 percent full in 2007.

Warm weather in parts of the country has delayed the arrival of many winter visitors, Ron Stephenson, manager of Havasu Falls RV Park, said.

Stephenson reported the park is about 20 percent or two weeks behind its normal schedule for winter visitors. He expects the park would be full after the holidays, as reservations and calls are pouring in daily.

As of Wednesday, Havasu Falls was 50 to 60 percent full, with only a few cancellations. Stephenson said most of the cancellations are not due to the economy, though.

“We’ve had some cancellations due to health,” he said. “A lot of our winter visitors are older, so their health is more of a concern.”

Quiggle pointed out the importance of winter visitors to the city’s economy, noting they and the Spring Break visitors offer an incredible boost.

“Our entire town needs the economic impact (of winter visitors),” she said. “It is huge.”

You may contact the reporter at twaggoner@havasunews.com.