Memorial Day weekend in San Francisco draws crowds, highlights ongoing tourism recovery
San Francisco's tourism industry is showing signs of recovery this Memorial Day weekend as visitors crowd popular attractions like Fisherman's Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge.
The holiday weekend, often considered the unofficial start of summer, brought heavy foot traffic to some of the city's most recognizable destinations. Business owners and tourism officials said the increase in visitors is encouraging after years of pandemic-related setbacks.
"Business sales are up about 10% compared to last year. So that's a good sign," said Maneet Sohal, whose company, City Sightseeing San Francisco, operates the city's familiar red double-decker tour buses. "We're hoping for a good season here with the World Cup coming to town this year."
Tourism leaders hope upcoming international events, including the FIFA World Cup, will attract more overseas travelers to San Francisco. Industry experts said European tourism has rebounded, but international tourism from China remains far below pre-pandemic levels.
That decline continues to affect the city's tourism economy because Chinese visitors historically stay longer and spend significantly more money than domestic travelers.
"A lot of our tourists are domestic," Sohal said. "We're seeing a lot of people coming out from just a few hours away: Central Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego. We're not seeing as many international tourists."
Industry leaders said that is a big part in why the city's tourism economy still has not fully rebounded from the pandemic.
Sohal said his business remains "about 20 to 25% down from 2019 still."
According to the San Francisco Travel Association, visitors are projected to spend $9.9 billion in the city this year, surpassing the previous record of $9.6 billion set in 2019.
However, tourism officials cautioned that inflation paints a different picture.
"With inflation and the cost of doing business, of course, we're still 75% of the way there," said Alex Bastian, president and CEO of the Hotel Council of San Francisco. "But this is such an amazing example of what we can achieve as a city when we work together."
SF Travel projects that 24.2 million people will visit San Francisco this year. By comparison, city officials said more than 26 million people visited in 2019 before the pandemic disrupted global travel.
Bastian emphasized the importance of tourism to the city's economy.
"This industry is really the goose that lays the golden egg for our city," he said. "When our industry does well, San Francisco does well."
Recovery has varied across different parts of the city. While officials said Union Square continues to improve, a spokesperson for Pier 39 said the waterfront attraction continues to surpass its 2019 visitor numbers.
Despite ongoing challenges, Sohal remains optimistic about San Francisco's future.
"We're optimistic," he said. "We see the city is going in the right direction. We have some good leadership. So we're optimistic about the future."
City officials said tourism remains San Francisco's largest industry, supporting approximately 64,000 jobs and playing a major role in the city's economic health.