The San Francisco Travel Association recently reported that San Francisco welcomed 16.51 million visitors in 2012, an increase of 1 percent from 2011. These visitors spent $ 8.93 billion in 2012, up 5.5 percent from the previous year. The data was presented during the eighth annual Northern California Visitor Industry Outlook & Marketing Conference at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.
“Visitor spending reached the highest level ever in 2012,” said Joe D’Alessandro, San Francisco Travel president and CEO. “The total number of visitors is climbing steadily as well.” The tourism industry generated $562 million in taxes for the City of San Francisco, up 6.7 percent from the previous year. The number of jobs supported by tourism rose 3.6 percent to 74,009 jobs in 2012, with an annual payroll of $ 2.18 billion, an increase of 6. 2 percent.
In 2012, there was an average of 131,128 visitors in San Francisco each day. Visitor spending equated to $24.46 million daily (including spending related to meetings and conventions )
Convention bookings were at 48 percent of goal at midyear and are on target to achieve the annual goal of 2,105,500 booked room nights which is a five percent increase over last year. Six conventions in San Francisco have received record breaking attendance in the past six months, continuing a trend that has been tracked since 1998. The likelihood of holding a well-attended event is a significant attraction for meeting planners considering San Francisco
