CALIFORNIA BUSINESS MINUTE
Minute Plus
Temecula Tourism
01-24-12
Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.
A recent report completed for the Temecula Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau
provides what the development of the Wine Country, Old Town and the Pechanga
Resort & Casino have meant to the region’s economic tourism market over a decade.
Spending on tourism and travel in the Temecula Valley grew from $131 million
from 2000 and to nearly $557 million by the end of 2010 The number of jobs
created by the industry also increased significantly from 1,660 in 2000 to
6,140 a decade later.
Tax receipts from tourism grew, too, but not nearly as substantially. Local
government’s share of spending totaled $5.1 million in 2010, compared with
$2.7 million in 2000. That’s an increase of 89 percent — not much considering
that total spending more than quadrupled.
State tax collectors fared better. State receipts from Temecula Valley tourism
more than tripled to $18.7 million last year, from $5.3 million in 2000.
The report, compiled by Dean Runyan Associates, looked at direct spending by
visitors making overnight visits to the valley or day trips from at least 50
miles away. It also examines direct employment created by tourism and travel.
Unlike many economic development reports, it does not multiply out the direct
spending to estimate the indirect benefits as that money filters through the
local economy.
The report also gives a glimpse of the impact of the former Pechanga casino,
which was transformed from a gaming casino to a full-scale resort in June 2002.
Tourism employment nearly doubled between 2002 and 2003, from 2,930 to 5,560.
Total spending surged to $231.1 million to $432.5 million over that same year.
The report also shows the hit the industry took from the “Great Recession.”
After years of steady growth, tourism spending dropped by nearly $100 million
between 2007 and 2009. It reached a high of $603.4 million in 2006 then dropped
to $509.1 million. It rebounded to $556.8 million in 2010.
I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.
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