Friday, October 13, 2023
San Francisco — the Golden Gate city has identified India among its top tourism source markets, as it looks to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on the sector.
The San Francisco Travel Association has also identified India among its fastest-growing source markets for the destination.
In 2022, India ranked third among the city’s top overseas visitor markets with 158,000 visitors.
This is expected to grow by 34 per cent in 2023, with a projected spending increase of 63 per cent, making India among the fastest-growing source markets for the destination, said Hubertus Funke, executive vice-president and chief tourism officer at San Francisco Travel Association.
Pre-pandemic, India was the fastest-growing market, and in the post-Covid phase, the trend is picking up again, he added.
The city witnesses a large number of Indian tourists visiting friends and relatives, staying in the nearby Silicon Valley.
“We are trying to capitalise on this population visiting the city, while also trying to convert the business Indian traveller to leisure traveller,” Funke said.
Increased incomes in the country have aided air travel in India, boosting both domestic and outbound tourism.
When it comes to San Francisco, more airway routes to the city have also helped.
Air India recently expanded its SFO network to three destinations in India, including Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, with an increase in operation from nine flights a week to 17 flights a week.
Meanwhile, the seat capacity has also doubled from 2,142 to 4,396 in a week.
With 1,102 daily passengers from India to the San Francisco Bay Area, there is a 186 per cent increase in traffic compared from pre-pandemic to the first half of this current year.
“We want to build on our strong relationship with key stakeholders and airlines, including Air India, which has strong and increasing connectivity to SFO. Our goal is to craft a positive journey for visitors on these non-stop flights by offering them exceptional services and the unique offerings of our airport,” said Kevin Bumen, chief financial and commercial officer at San Francisco International Airport.
“When we look at Mumbai versus Delhi, Mumbai is number two in terms of passenger traffic in 2023 with around 190 passengers each day as against 290 per day for Delhi,” he added.
Tourism is one of San Francisco’s biggest markets, with travellers spending close to $10 billion annually, and creating 80,000 jobs in the city, Funke informed a news agency.
The city will see five new hotels opening this year, following the nine that have already debuted this year to aid this recovering market.
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