SF Tourism Industry Rebounds In 2011

San Francisco’s biggest industry had a resurgence in 2011 across the board as the San Francisco Travel Association reports that both business and leisure travel were up last year.

The report presented during the annual Northern California Visitor Industry Outlook & Marketing Conference on Tuesday showed that San Francisco welcomed more than 16 million visitors in 2011, an increase of 2.7 percent from 2010. And those visitors spent $8.46 billion, up nearly 10 percent from the previous year.

“Our economic recovery continues but we have a ways to go,” said Joe D’Alessandro, San Francisco Travel president and CEO. “We can look forward to the events of this year that will drive significant leisure travel as well as the strong convention bookings to keep the momentum going.”

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco led the country in revenue per room, a hotel’s daily average rate multiplied by its occupancy rate. PFK Consulting USA tells the paper that revenue per room grew 20 percent in San Francisco in 2011.

D’Alessandro said he expects even greater numbers in 2012 with a number of major events taking place in the city including the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge in May, the U.S. Open Golf Championship in June and the America’s Cup World Series events, scheduled for August and October.

It's simple. Keith Mizuguchi loves to write and write and write some more. After taking a hiatus from the journalism business, he has rekindled his passion for writing over the last two years, holding a job as both a web and on-air writer for San Francisco news radio station KCBS. While he enjoys the news business, his true passions are twofold: sports and food. Bay Area born and raised, he lives in San Jose, commutes to SF and loves every minute of it. You can follow his food adventures on Twitter @foodie_keith.