San Francisco hosted 16.5 million visitors in 2012, including hotel guests, those staying with friends and relatives, those staying in accommodations outside the City but whose primary destination was San Francisco, and regional visitors driving in for the day. These visitors spent $8.9 billion in local businesses.

This massive injection of visitor dollars directly supports local hotels, restaurants, shops, attractions, and cultural institutions. It also indirectly bolsters practically every segment of the city's economy and has a broad positive influence on government finances - some $561 million in tax and fee revenue flowed into the City and County of San Francisco in 2012.

Latest Visitor Data:

International Visitor Reports:

The following reports are based on information collected by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Travel Tourism Industries.


The Results Are in for San Francisco's Cultural Traveler Study

For our first-ever comprehensive Arts & Culture study, we surveyed 4,000 cultural travelers from San Francisco’s top 10 domestic feeder markets (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Boston, Seattle, San Diego, Portland, Sacramento and San Francisco Bay Area (outside of SF).

What we discovered...

  • Cultural travelers take more trips, are somewhat younger and moderately more affluent than non-cultural travelers.
  • While their interests vary, “historic sites and attractions” ranked highest among 10 arts and cultural attributes considered when selecting a destination.
  • Las Vegas and Los Angeles are San Francisco's two biggest challengers, with L.A. showing real competition for “theater and performing arts” and “aquariums, zoos and wild animal parks.”
  • More than one in four people surveyed traveled specifically to visit a garden or park, watch a live music performance and/or attend a festival or special event.
  • SF is rich in assets, allowing us to position the city as a cultural destination and capitalize on the varied experiences and activities cultural travelers seek.

Curious for more details? Download the complete survey.

San Francisco Hotel Industry Facts:

  • Hotel rooms in San Francisco (city/county limits): 33,642 (as of September 2012).
  • According to PKF Consulting there are 215 Hotels in San Francisco.
  • Approximately 20,000 of these rooms are within walking distance of the Moscone Center.
  • Hotel Tax Rate: 14%.
  • Hotel Occupancy Taxes and Fees - Comparative Cities
  • New Hotels: Click here to download the most recent list of hotel projects in the development pipeline. Note that development projects and timelines change frequently.


San Francisco Hotel Guest Profile:

Overnight hotel guests account for more than two of every three dollars spent locally by out-of-town visitors despite representing only one-third of all visitors to the City. (The balance stayed either in private homes with friends or relatives, stayed in hotels outside the City though San Francisco was their primary destination, or were day visitors from nearby areas.)

 

The profile below shows important characteristics of San Francisco's hotel guests.

 

 

Average annual household income:

$118,000

Average spending in SF (per-person, per-day):

$240.31

First-time San Francisco visitors:

27.2%

Traveling with children:

17.2%

Average age:

43 years old

Average nights in SF hotels:

3.5 nights

People per room:

2.0

Arrived by air:

69.2%

Top five feeder markets of hotel guests (by Designated Market Areas (DMAs))

Los Angeles 11.3%

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose 7.0%

New York City 6.3%

Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto 4.9%

Chicago 3.3%

Source: San Francisco Visitor Profile Report (2010), published by San Francisco Travel in March 2011.

Useful Links:

Research questions? Please e-mail research@sanfrancisco.travel.