San Francisco is expected to welcome more visitors this summer compared to last, with tourism spending on track to rise as well. Christie Smith reports.
San Francisco is expected to welcome more visitors this summer compared to last, with tourism spending on track to rise as well, according to a forecast by the San Francisco Travel Association.
Conventions and marquee events appear to be the real drivers of growth for the city.
According to the San Francisco Travel Association, the city is projected to welcome more than 24 million visitors this summer, surpassing last year’s numbers in visitors and spending, and convention numbers keep growing.
“What stood out is our convention calendar remains really strong and it’s continuing to grow,” San Francisco Travel Association President and CEO Anna Marie Prescutti said. “We continue to be the destination of choice for so many at these conferences and we’re slowly gaining ground every year.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie sees the new numbers as another sign that the city is on the rise.
“Our conferences are a huge boom,” he said. “We also had Super Bowl LX. We have World Cup.”
He said the continued push is for a broad-based durable recovery.
“We have more conferences set for next year over this year,” he said. “Last year we were 25. This year is about 35. Next year, we’re expecting more. We are going to lean into our arts and culture, our great restaurants, tourism and our conventions.”