In a county that depends on sunny skies, pristine beaches and balmy summer weather to attract the bulk of its annual visitor count, the winter months are generally thought of as “bookends” to tourism officials.
And as San Diego’s rainfall increases, fewer people are checking into local hotels than they did at this time last year.
According to Smith Travel Research of Tennessee, which independently tracks the top 25 tourism destinations throughout the country, the average occupancy rate at inns throughout the county for a 28-day period ending Jan. 29 was 62.8 percent, down 5.1 percent compared with the same time frame in 2004.
San Diego’s hotels, which finished 2003 in third place and 2004 in fourth place among the top 25, were in the No. 7 spot toward the end of January, according to the research company’s survey.
In first place was Honolulu, followed by Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles/Long Beach, Orlando, Fla., and Tampa-St. Petersburg, in that order.
Connie Lewis
