California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

When one thinks of San Diego, one typically thinks vacation and tourism. 
Whether you like the beach, surfing, visiting some of the finest museums
in the state, golf some of the best courses too or visit the world renown
San Diego Zoo and Animal Park, Sea World, LegoLand or the Hobbs Aquarium
at the Scripps Institute, take in a Padres Baseball game of later this
fall a Chargers football game, there is something for everyone and tourism
is a serious component of San Diego’s economy.

The San Diego visitor industry is the third largest industry in San Diego
County behind manufacturing and the military, employing more than 160,000
San Diegans.  It is one of the top five leisure vacation destinations in
the U.S. and a top 10 business destination as measured by visitor-days. 

Visitors spend $8 billion annually at thousands of businesses in the County. 
This equates to $18 Billion in economic impact for the region, and thus a
very important piece of the economic health of the region.

San Diego has approximately 453 hotel and motel properties with over 54,395 rooms
available to visitors. Condo/hotels, B&Bs, casinos, and health spa resorts add
an additional 97 properties and 2,650 rooms.

An estimated 9,064,478 air passengers arrived at Lindbergh Field, which is served
by a total of 25 airline passenger carriers.

Tax Revenue from tourism is significant. In San Diego County, nearly $200 million
was collected in Transient Occupancy Tax revenue in fiscal year 2008
(July 2007-June 2008).

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.