BY THE NUMBERS: San Francisco posts gains

The San Francisco Travel Association reports that San Francisco welcomed 16.51 million visitors in 2012, an increase of 1% from 2011. Those visitors spent $8.93 billion in 2012, up 5.5% compared to the previous year. Joe D’Alessandro, San Francisco Travel president and CEO, said: “Visitor spending reached the highest level ever in 2012. 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% from the previous year. The number of jobs supported by tourism rose 3.6% to 74,009 jobs in 2012, with an annual payroll of $2.18 billion, an increase of 6.2%. 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% of goal at mid year and are on target to achieve the annual goal of 2,105,500 booked room nights which is a 5% 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. Go to http://www.sanfrancisco.travel for more.