| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 19/11/01 |
| Author: | Page Number: 28 |
| Copyright: Other |
Terrorist attacks
California eyes $45m tourism spend to bring back visitors
Report by PAULNORRIS
Downfall: there has 35% drop in visitor figures since September 11
CALIFORNIA is to triple its travel and tourism spend to $45 million to offset a dramatic plunge in post-September 11 visitor numbers.
Discussions are taking place between the state, the leisure industry and individual regions to raise millions of dollars to woo back guests.
There has been a 35% drop in numbers visiting the state since the terrorist attacks, with the biggest loss coming from the high-spending Japanese market.
The vice-chairman of the California Travel and Tourism Commission, Bob Roberts, confirmed visitor numbers had dropped in their millions.
He said: “The Japanese visitor market collapsed, South America was already bad and projections of 1.1 million visitors from the UK for the year will not happen. We will be aggressive in all markets with the new budget.”
However, Roberts said the main focus of a huge 2002 promotion will be focused on regions such as the UK, Germany and other European countries as their citizens are more likely to return next year than Asian or Latin American guests.
Roberts could not say what California’s normal visitor numbers were as he said it was difficult to quantify, but he conceded that all markets were down and it would be at least the third quarter of next year before hotels saw occupancy return to pre-September levels.
California’s current budget of $15 million is made up of half from the state and half from the travel industry, but talks are ongoing to treble this by involving individual suffering cities like San Francisco more and receiving more from the state’s coffers.
Roberts said more would be spent on overseas promotions, including advertising, films and brochures. Domestic spend would also be greatly increased.
He also said talks were ongoing with all sectors to address the loss of 20% of the state’s tourism staff – a drop of around 200,000 workers.