The San Francisco Travel Association, the official destination marketing organisation for the City and County of San Francisco, forecast marked increases in visitor volume, visitor spending, group business and hotel occupancy this year compared to 2021 at its Annual Visitor and Lodging Forecast Forum held today at Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts
According to the association’s latest projections, San Francisco will receive 21.5 million visitors in 2022 compared to 2021’s 17 million visitors, an increase of 26.5 percent. Visitor spending is forecast to be up 89.3 per cent in 2022 to $6.7 billion, but down 30.2 per cent compared to 2019, when the city had a record 26.2 million visitors and $9.6 billion in visitor spending.
Joe D’Alessandro, San Francisco Travel’s president and CEO, said: “We are clearly on the road to recovery, but we still have a way to go before we will reach pre-pandemic tourism levels. San Francisco will not see a full recovery until travellers from Asia return and business travel and group business increases.”
Factors driving this year’s recovery include an increased volume of domestic overnight and international visitors. In 2022, more than 6.9 million domestic overnight visitors are expected, an increase of 33 per cent compared to 2021. The forecast reports San Francisco will see 1.5 million international visitors, a 163 per cent increase over the previous year.
According to data provided by Tourism Economics, overnight domestic business travel has grown 134 percent compared to 2021, and spending is up 152 percent, but both are down more than 30 percent compared to 2019. The outlook for 2023 anticipates sustained gains with an estimated 24.5 million visitors and $8.9 billion in visitor spending.
San Francisco Travel’s current projections indicate visitor spending will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024, and global visitation will not reach 2019 levels until 2025. Compared with 2019, international visitor volume is down 50 per cent, with only half of 2019’s three million overnight international visitors projected in 2022.
The return of international travellers is critical for San Francisco’s continued economic recovery. International overnight visitors accounted for $5.1 billion of the $9.6 billion in overall visitor spending in 2019. This year, international overnight visitors are expected to contribute 46 per cent ($3.1 billion) of the $6.7 billion in visitor spending.
