San Francisco received 21.9 million tourists last year, 29 pc growth over 2021 and total visitor spend was USD 7.4 billion, says San Francisco Travel Association, forecasting nearly 10 pc rise in visitor numbers this year. India was not only one of the top 5 source markets for the city, but Indian visitors were also the highest spenders in the city, says the association.

The City of Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco witnessed a significant increase in visitors in 2022, with 21.9 million visitors to the city, rising 29 pc from 2021’s 17 million. Visitor spending was USD 7.4 billion in 2022, more than double the 2021 visitor spend of USD 3.56 billion. Total tourism spending, including exhibitor and meeting planner direct spend, was USD 7.7 billion.

These are some of the key findings of the performance of the city’s tourism industry last year as per the San Francisco Travel Association, the official destination marketing organisation for the City and County of San Francisco, that released the 2022 tourism figures and an updated 2023 tourism forecast at its annual Marketing Conference held at The Warfield.

“The incredible growth in 2022 was fueled largely by international leisure travelers and our convention business, with the 33 events booked at Moscone Center driving USD 587 million in convention and meetings spending,” says Joe D’Alessandro, San Francisco Travel’s President and CEO. “We made significant headway in 2022 through targeted efforts to attract overseas travelers and secure events for Moscone Center,” he adds.

According to a press statement by San Francisco Travel Association, the city had a record 26.2 million visitors and USD 9.6 billion in visitor spending in 2019. Visitor spending is expected to reach 2019’s level in 2024 and visitor volume is anticipated to exceed 2019’s in 2025. San Francisco’s tourism industry is forecasted to fully recover Lodging RevPAR or revenue per available room by 2026.

The statement adds that in 2022, San Francisco welcomed 1.7 million international visitors, a 211 pc increase year-over year driven largely by returning European travellers. The international market continues to drive visitor spending. International visitors comprised just 24 pc of overnight visitor volume but over 60 pc of all overnight visitor spending in 2022. They spent USD 3.7 billion, a dramatic increase from USD 1 billion in 2021.

The statement adds that Covid-19 restrictions in place in 2022 in key Asia markets for San Francisco affected the pace of tourism recovery, and international arrivals and spending remained below 2019’s record 2.9 million international visitors and USD 5.1 billion in spend.

Based on the most recent 2022 data available from Oxford Economics, the top five international markets for visitor volume in 2022 were Mexico, the UK, Canada, India, and Germany. The top five international markets for spend in 2022 were India, the UK, Mexico, Canada, and Germany.

“San Francisco is not yet reaching pre-pandemic numbers as anticipated, but we expect to see further growth this year, especially as we begin to welcome back more travelers from Asia. With the return of flight routes to SFO from cities across Asia and an ease on testing requirements, we should see increases in international visitation and spending,” says D’Alessandro.

The statement adds that the average hotel occupancy was 62.1 pc, up 43.7 pc from 2021’s occupancy rate. The average daily rate or ADR was USD 231.12, up 41 pc YOY, while revenue per available room rose more than 100 pc to USD 143.47.

Room nights consumed by delegates attending Moscone Center conventions totaled 347,788, a huge growth of 1,933 pc increase from 2021. Meetings rebounded following the slowdown in Q1 due to the delta and omicron Covid-19 variants, with Moscone Center hosting 33 events in 2022 compared to five following its reopening in September 2021.

The tourism industry generated USD 522 million in taxes and fees for the City and County of San Francisco in 2022, up 103 pc from USD 257 million in 2021. The statement adds that tourism is one of the largest sectors for job creation in the city. In 2023, jobs supported by tourism grew 95 pc to 53,156, up from 27,318 last year but still below the more than 86,000 jobs supported in 2019.

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) served over 42.3 million passengers, up 74 pc from 2020’s 16.4 million passengers but still 26 pc below 57.8 million in 2019.

Leisure travel is expected to continue its steady recovery and overall visitation to the city is forecast to reach 23.9 million in 2023. Total visitor spending is expected to grow from USD 7.4 billion in 2022 to USD 8.7 billion in 2023. International arrivals are projected to grow to two million in 2023, with an anticipated contribution of USD 4.3 billion in spending.

Hotel room nights associated with Moscone Center events will almost double in 2023 to over 673,000. There are 35 events confirmed at Moscone Center in 2023, and higher attendance is expected at events this year in line with national industry trends and definite hotel room nights on the books.

Hotel occupancy in 2023 is forecast to reach 70 pc, up 12.7 pc from 2022. ADR in 2023 is projected to grow 11 pc to a forecast level of USD 257.22. Hotel RevPAR is anticipated to grow 25.4 pc to USD 179.95. San Francisco currently has 253 hotels with a rooms inventory of 36,165. Seven hotels closed permanently during the pandemic and a further 10 remain temporarily closed.

SFO says that it will see over 50 million passengers in 2023, about 8 million more than in 2022. The airport forecasts it will return to 2019’s 58-million-annual-passenger-levels of traffic between 2025 and 2026.

The statement adds that the San Francisco is expected to launch its first major global brand campaign this May. The statement adds that the USD 6 million campaign is funded by a sub-grant from Visit California, a grant from San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and industry stakeholders. The Always San Francisco brand campaign will target key visitor and meetings markets including New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston and Houston and select international markets. The high-reach campaign will be delivered primarily through TV, out of home and high impact digital advertising.

The brand campaign will be complemented by other marketing programmes, including a global Expedia campaign running from April through December, a domestic arts and culture campaign, and campaigns in Asia Pacific, India, Australia, the UK, and Europe.

The association also will lead a Tourism and PR Mission in Japan and Korea in April aimed at promoting San Francisco and boosting visitation from those markets. Both the markets are expected to show robust growth in visitation in 2023 and lead the ongoing recovery from Asia.  Therefore, a focus on these markets is of particular importance given that China continues to lag. While visitation from China, San Francisco’s top overseas market prior to the pandemic, is expected to increase in 2023, it will not fully return. This is mainly due to geopolitical reasons and prevailing bilateral government restrictions that hamper the resumption of air service.

The statement adds that San Francisco Travel also is introducing new initiatives to drive meetings and convention business. Key among them is a new room block programme for Moscone Center bookings in partnership with hotels catering to meetings business to ensure San Francisco remains competitive.

“Securing events for Moscone Center in future years is where key opportunities lie and is vitally important to the city’s economic recovery. We will capitalise on the Moscone Recovery Fund and the 0.25 pc TID increase effective in 2024 to secure future convention bookings. The TID increase will build an USD 8 to USD 10 million incentive fund to attract and retain business at Moscone Center through 2038. We are also leveraging the Welcome Ambassador program, which has been tremendously successful in improving customer satisfaction and attendees’ experience,” says Nicole Rogers, San Francisco Travel’s Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer.

“Given that associations book conferences several years out, our strategy for 2024 is to secure more corporate events, likely taking place in hotels because of their smaller size, to support the hospitality, event, and tourism businesses in the city.  In 2022, 75 pc of group rooms nights were for events outside of Moscone Center, so we are targeting these types of smaller group events with shorter booking windows and expanding our efforts to attract luxury and international group business,” she adds.