(TAN): San Francisco in the United States’ California state hosted 26.2 million visitors in 2019, 1.4% more compared to the earlier year, reports said.
In 2018, the city had reportedly welcomed 25.8 million visitors.
Total tourism spending, including spending on meetings and conventions, went up 2.7% year-on-year to USD 10.2 billion in 2019, reports said.
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According to reports, San Francisco tourism posted a record in 2019 with its tenth straight year of growth.
President and Chief Executive Officer of San Francisco Travel, Joe D’Alessandro, reportedly said the 26.2 million visitors helped create 86,111 jobs and services for the Bay Area.
“This is the tenth consecutive year that we are able to report record-breaking outcomes for San Francisco’s tourism industry. The 26.2 million visitors and USD 10.2 billion in spending created 86,111 jobs and supported services for people throughout the city and the entire Bay Area,” he was quoted by Travel Pulse as saying.
However, he reportedly said tourism numbers for 2020 could suffer owing to the coronavirus outbreak.
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“Overall, 2019 was another great year. Internationally, the evolving coronavirus situation and other market conditions make 2020 a difficult year to project,” D’Alessandro added.
In 2019, 2.9 million foreign visitors travelled to San Francisco, registering an increase of 1.3% from 2018, reports said.
As per reports, they made up 28.3% of overnight visitors, and accounted for 61.6% of all overnight visitor spending in 2019. International visitor spending reportedly grew 3% to USD 5.1 billion in 2019, compared to USD 4.9 billion in 2018.
While Mexico, China, the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany constituted the top five international markets in terms of visitor volume in 2019, the fastest growing overseas markets were France, United Kingdom, Italy and Taiwan, reports said.
Average hotel occupancy for 2019 was 82.9%, 0.8% more than the year earlier, reports said.
“Room nights booked and consumed at the Moscone Center exceeded one million in 2019. This is only the second year this has ever happened, 2014 being the first,” D’Alessandro said.
San Francisco Travel Association shared the figures at San Francisco Travel’s Marketing Conference held at the city’s Mission Bay Conference Center, as per reports. The San Francisco Travel Association is the official destination marketing organisation for San Francisco.
