July Was a Hot Month for San Diego Tourism

San Diego tourism, which was parched by the “Olympic drought” of 1984 and wilted under the hot, humid weather that prevailed most of last summer, is up substantially this year, according to statistics released Monday by the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau (ConVis).

The number of tourists visiting San Diego in July was up 5.5% over the same month last year, but more important to those in the tourism industry, the visitors spent $275 million, an 11% increase.

The Wild Animal Park and the San Diego Zoo have benefited most from the upsurge in tourism, with attendance at the two attractions up 17.4% at the animal park and 12.2% at the zoo. Old Town State Park and the Cabrillo National Monument also were more popular with visitors than in the past.

But not every San Diego attraction shared in the wealth of increased tourist dollars. Attendance at Sea World in July was down 2% from last year. And although the Museum of Art and the Reuben H. Fleet Museum are doing well, attendance has been off at other Balboa Park attractions, such as the Natural History Museum. Attendance is also down at the Serra Museum in Persido Park.

Hotel occupancy also was down 4.7% in July, but ConVis officials attributed this to an 11.4% increase in room inventory caused by the availability of 3,000 new rooms. The number of “room nights” rented at San Diego hotels was up 6.1% over July of last year.

Tourist spending, which stands at $1.4 billion for the year, is fast approaching the defense industry as San Diego’s second-greatest source of revenue, behind manufacturing. Yet, this vital component of the city’s economy depends to a great extent on fluctuations in the weather and the price of gasoline, said Al Reese, director of public affairs for ConVis.

Reese said the increased number of visitors was in large part due to the price of gasoline, which has been well below a dollar a gallon for most of the summer.

“We have a very strong summer drive market here and this summer we saw more people on the road than there have been in the past,” Reese said.

Additionally, lower oil prices have brought decreased air fares, resulting in a 16% increase in arrivals at Lindbergh Field.

Although the relatively greater increase in visitor spending can be attributed partially to inflation, it also reflects the fact that tourists are staying for longer periods of time, Reese said.

“If you remember the spell of hot, humid weather we had last year . . . that can have an effect on a visitor’s length of stay,” he said.

Another factor in attracting tourists to the city is advertising, Reese said, noting that ConVis launched extensive radio, TV, newspaper and billboard campaigns in Western cities such as San Francisco, Phoenix and Salt Lake City to lure summertime visitors to San Diego.

“We did some pretty heavy promotion and we feel we reached a large number of people,” he said. With the end of summer, ConVis will begin targeting its promotional campaign at “snowbirds” in the Midwest, East Coast and in Canada.