Ryan Becker, a spokesperson for Visit California, says the 2023 figures show a “normalization of travel patterns” that was first upended when the pandemic was at its peak and travel restrictions were enacted worldwide. It was then followed by a massive rebound when rules were lifted and people were eager to travel — a period known as “revenge travel.”
But not all regions are bouncing back equally. For instance, although travel spending for the San Francisco Bay Area in 2023 increased 7.5% from 2023 to the year before — outperforming the state as a whole — tourism spending there still hasn’t exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
One likely reason is a lack of tourists from Asia, specifically China. Visitors from Asia and the Pacific were “the largest contributor to international travel spending in 2019,” but only spent roughly half as much in 2023 as they did before the pandemic.
