May is National Tourism Month.
To some cities in America it makes little difference, but in San Diego it is a big deal. Most audiences I speak to while giving remarks about the economy think it is so big that it is our largest industry.
It is not our largest industry , it’s No. 3, to be exact , but it is a very big deal for a number of reasons.
– Last year, 15.2 million overnight visitors stayed here.
– Those visitors spent $5.2 billion while visiting us.
– More than 177,000 San Diegans owe their living to tourism.
– The Convention Center had 51 conventions and trade shows in 52 weeks. Is it any wonder we need the expansion that is opening in September?
– In 2000, an estimated 7,904,403 air passengers arrived at Lindbergh Field on 15 airlines. Border crossings in San Ysidro and Otay Mesa accounted for 55,910,936 legal arrivals.
– In the region, $125 million was collected in transient occupancy tax revenue. That money funds dozens of nonprofit organizations as well as additional law enforcement officers and other general fund projects that do not have to be paid for out of our taxes.
These numbers in the revenue column do not include the multiplier or ripple effect that the industry creates. For instance, millions of dollars are spent here in the motion picture and television industry because of the variety of locations and the weather.
Many industries prosper because of tourism. Many corporate visitors coming here see first-hand why they should think about relocation or expansion of their businesses here. A one-day visit by a cruise ship gives an eight-hour living tour to thousands of first-time visitors.
Tourism is something most of us take for granted. We don’t think about how wonderful San Diego is because we live here. I just returned with my wife from a cruise in the Caribbean, and while it was relaxing and somewhat fattening, it also pointed out to me how great San Diego is as a tourism attraction. For instance, you can drink our water and eat our food without much chance of getting sick. You can travel in most parts of this region without fear of robbery or worse. We have learned the tourist is important to our region’s economy but other countries don’t provide that same feeling of safety.
Yes, we have serious incidents here, but on the whole the kidnappings and worse scenarios are rare. Overall, wherever we visit, it is really good to be home.
The other point I want to make is the impact tourism has on our economy from a different perspective. Over the next five years we will see billions of dollars spent on dozens of new hotels, expanded attractions at SeaWorld, the Zoo and Legoland, which means thousands of construction jobs, new jobs in construction supply companies and greater taxes being paid by those employees and companies.
The revamped Embarcadero, the USS Midway arrival, the opening of the expanded Convention Center and the list goes on. These construction economic generators are not part of the $5.2 billion in tourism revenue we talk about but they nonetheless are dollars spent here.
All in all, May is National Tourism Month and as we eat in local restaurants, visit hotels or attractions, offer your congratulations to the employees you see there.
To the balance sheet:
Credit: To Doug Manchester and his team at Manchester Resorts for getting the construction money to build his 800-room hotel tower at the Hyatt Regency. It took a lot of deal-making with the Port District (his landlord) and the lenders, but while building the tower is vital to our East Village project as well as to the Convention Center, its also signals to other lenders that San Diego is a market worthy of investment. Other projects will perhaps find a more responsive financial marketplace. Dozens of new hotels large and small are awaiting the lending approvals they need. Congrats to Doug and his team for having the persistence to hang in there against the odds.
Credit: To four members of the Colliers International brokerage team on their selection as the companies best performers of the first quarter of 2001. The honoring of Top Performer Gunder Craeger, and David Santistevan, Jim Spain and Jerry Sarazin also signifies for many of the pessimists in the region that the economy is somewhat stronger than many think. These men are singled out for signing very large, sometimes multimillion-dollar building leases. Only in a strong economy can these men be honored. Congratulations to Colliers International on their first-quarter success.
Credit: To Lise Markham and her team at KSWB 5/69 as they celebrate their fifth anniversary in San Diego. Lise has not only turned a basement-dwelling television station to a true contender for market share, but she has through her access to the Tribune Foundation, helped raise $6 million for local kids’ organizations. The matching grants from the foundation have helped many programs for children into viable organizations with the support of KSWB Cares For Kids Fund. Happy anniversary to all hands at KSWB.