From atop the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in a video released Sunday that spending on tourism in California reached an all-time high of $150.4 billion last year.
That figure surpassed the pre-pandemic record $144.9 billion, which was recorded in 2019.
San Diego also had a record-breaking total when it comes to dollars spent by tourists in 2023: Julie Coker, chief executive officer of the San Diego Tourism Authority, told NBC 7 that $14.3 billion was spent in San Diego by tourists last fiscal year.
That total is roughly a billion more dollars than last year and $2.7 billion more than in 2019.
Those figures, however, don’t take into account for inflation.
For local businesses that struggled during the lean COVID years, the 2023 financial figures are a needed bounce back regardless.
“To come back this strong post-Covid and to do it earlier than projected means everything to small businesses and neighborhoods,” said Coker. “Coming back really means a lot to San Diego’s economy, but it means a lot to San Diego residents.”
When asked if she was surprised that San Diego’s tourism numbers bounced back so fast, Coker smiled, laughed and said, ” No I’m not surprised. We’re San Diego — of course I’m not surprised.”
San Diego accounted for roughly 10% of the statewide total in travel spending last year. San Diego had an estimated 30 million visitors in 2023.