Last year, 31.8 million visitors to San Diego spent $14.3 billion dollars – a record high that generated more than $1 billion in tax revenue, reports NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer.
San Diego city and tourism officials on Tuesday kicked off the summer tourism season by highlighting all that the region has to offer visitors and noting the importance of those tourism dollars to the local economy.
Mayor Todd Gloria and representatives of the San Diego Tourism Authority were among those celebrating the unofficial start to summer at the San Diego Natural History Museum.
Last year, 31.8 million visitors to San Diego spent $14.3 billion dollars - a record high that generated more than $1 billion in tax revenue, officials said.
Gloria said tourism is the third highest source of revenue for the city.
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"These are the dollars that pay our police officers, keep our libraries open, pave our roads and house our homeless," Gloria said, pointing in part to the 10.5% tax on hotel stays that generated more than $418 million countywide last year.
As San Diegans grapple with a high cost of living and a lack of affordable housing, Gloria said tourism is key to facing those challenges.
"Imagine what our economy would look like without tourism: the hundreds of thousands of jobs that wouldn't exist, the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that would not be coming into the city - our city would be far worse off without our vibrant tourism economy," he said.
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"What I know for sure is that our ability to make ends meet is made easier because people choose to come here, spend their money and then go back to their homes and tell other people to come and visit our city," Gloria added.
