California reported record spending by tourists last year, as the Golden State's tourism industry completed its recovery from the pandemic.
Governor Gavin Newsom and Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta announced today that travel spending in California reached an all-time high of $150.4 billion in 2023, surpassing the previous record of $144.9 billion spent in 2019 - the last full year before the pandemic shut down tourist attractions across the state and nation.
Spending was up 5.6% from 2022, and state officials said that California "continues to have the largest market share of tourism in the nation."
Newsom announced the numbers in a social media photo-op atop the San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate Bridge.
"From our world-renowned coastline, to the world’s tallest trees, to our iconic cities and theme parks, California is the nation’s coming attraction," Newsom said. "Visitors from all over the world are coming here to experience the wonder of the Golden State, boosting our economy and creating good-paying jobs for years to come."
As for those theme parks, Disney and Universal have reported strong growth in attendance and spending at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure and Universal Studios Hollywood over the past year, with Universal executives noting that attendance continues to grow in Hollywood more than a year after the debut of Super Nintendo World drove that park to all-time highs.
Those three parks consistently lead attendance for theme parks in California. We are still awaiting public numbers for 2023, but Disneyland drew more than 16 million visitors in 2022, according to that year's TEA/AECOM Theme Index report, with DCA drawing 9 million and Universal Studios Hollywood welcoming more than 8 million visitors.
Other attractions drawing more than 3 million admission-paying visitors a year in the state include the Knott's Berry Farm and SeaWorld San Diego theme parks as well as Yosemite and Joshua Tree national parks.
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If anything, US inflation much better than other nations.
Considering how much the Golden State (and LA specifically) has been spending on TV advertising in the past couple of years, I guess it's not surprising that they've increased their tourism. However, I think every regional tourism agency in the country can claim an increase in tourism dollar compared to 2019 given the rate of inflation and the shear magnitude in cost to visit most parts of the country right now compared to 5 years ago. Hotels rates are up nearly 20-25% across the board from 5 years ago, and some attractions (as exemplified by the theme park industry) are up in some cases nearly 30%.
These are certainly some strong numbers, but I think it's a bit of fools gold here given the current economic climate.
Didn't we just read that Florida's theme parks are down for the year?
What person would want to visit the scary place Florida has become under the maga cult when California exists?
@thecolonel - Wasn't this article about tourism in California?
Florida is a great place to live in and visit. I drive a Prius and I don't have a Trump 2024 hat. Nobody's taken a potshot at me yet (or else they have a really bad aim).
California's not bad either. I've been there multiple times, and I've still got more than a few places out there on my bucket list.
Maybe it's time to get off the "Ugh-Florida-Bad" rant.
While I don't doubt the numbers being cited are accurate, I do think they paint a very misleading picture. Between inflation and the significantly rising cost of literally everything in California, it's no surprise that the tourism sector experienced record revenue last year, but I doubt it's truly due to a rise in visitation to the state. It's also a bit hollow to hype having the "largest market share of tourism" when the state literally has the most tourist attractions of any single state in the country. To me, this feels like Newsom trying to make something completely expected out to be a massive achievement (which would hardly be the first time), but I suppose that's the goal of practically every politician these days.
Will it continue? I wouldn't be surprised either way (though I do expect a big bump around the LA Olympics in 2028). For theme park tourism, smart visitors know that the next couple years are not the time to visit SoCal, as we're in a bit of a lull between major investments right now and the parks honestly aren't in great shape at the moment. I've certainly spent fewer days at SoCal parks this year than normal (pre-pandemic, I usually spent 1-2 days each month at a park, but this year I've done 3 total).
"Nobody's taken a potshot at me yet (or else they have a really bad aim)."
Tim, you're a straight white man, the one group that's welcome in Florida. Women, girls, gays, Blacks, browns, trans--most everyone else is a target.
@thecolonel
"May 6, 2024 at 1:29 PM
Didn't we just read that Florida's theme parks are down for the year?
What person would want to visit the scary place Florida has become under the maga cult when California exists?"
And yet Disney's figures out today show that the theme parks in Florida saw and INCREASE in trade.
I wouldn't want to live in Florida for all the reasons you list, but I'd happily visit the theme park bubbles.
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This is misleading as inflation is up significantly. I believe the inflation since 2019 is around 23%. If so, the 2019 tourism spending in 2024 dollar is around $178 billion.
So, comparing absolute dollars is meaningless. When the amount of money taken in is equal to the 2019 in real 2023 dollars, then it will have caught up. It is really at 85% of 2019.