Monterey County 2023 travel spending changes little from 2022 report says

MONTEREY – Travel spending in California was up 5.6% in 2023 over the previous year, but in Monterey County it remained relatively unchanged in 2023 from 2022 levels. Statewide that increase reflected $150.4 billion in spending of which Monterey County accounted for about $3 billion in each of the past two years.

Those figures were part of Visit California’s Economic Impact of Travel report for 2023 prepared by Dean Runyan Associates.

“The Visit California report is great for the state as a whole. Their numbers are driven up by larger destinations like Los Angeles and San Diego and there are a few destinations still lagging 2019 numbers,” said See Monterey President and CEO Rob O’Keefe. “For Monterey County, we rely heavily on group and international visitors and both are still lagging.”

Tourism is the number two economic driver in Monterey County and number one on the Monterey Peninsula. Visitor spending in 2022 was $2.954 billion and in 2023 it was $2.963 billion, placing the county 8.6% below the 2019 total of $3.240 billion.

Monterey County has historically been reliant on two key travel segments – groups and conferences, and international visitors. Compared to 2019, the group and conference segment was down 5.3% last year. It is a lucrative segment as group spending is 158% of what leisure visitors spend.

But O’Keefe said there is a lot of reasons to be optimistic. See Monterey has momentum on its side as more group business is being booked now than was tallied in 2019. Many larger meetings and conferences book further out, he said, so that business will be realized in next year and beyond.

According to See Monterey, International travel has also been slower to recover for the entire state, particularly the China market which prior to the pandemic was the top spending overseas tourism market for California and for Monterey County. Challenges with visitor visa wait times and overall airlift from China remain the largest hurdles for recovery. See Monterey sees great opportunity on the horizon.

O’Keefe pointed out that See Monterey has maintained critical relationships in the market throughout the pandemic. It is sending a small delegation to Shanghai at the end of May to attend several key conferences to heighten Monterey County’s visibility and to position it for future success. See Monterey has also established for the first time a representation office in the United Kingdom to develop the market and begin reaching further into western Europe.

“We have to be more aggressive. Tourism is a business with fierce competitors and we’re all going after the same markets,” said O’Keefe. “The hotel community stepped up this year with our budget providing a new level of firepower and we’re using it. We need that and continued partnership investment from our jurisdictions to be truly competitive.”

O’Keefe stressed that challenges unique to Monterey County include closures along Highway 1 in Big Sur. The coastal highway is a major attraction with global appeal, bringing visitors to California and the county. Highway 1 has been closed at Paul’s Slide since the winter of 2023 and more closures have developed at two other slide points, as well as the recent Rocky Creek slip-out.

The Big Sur experience is an incredibly alluring attraction for the state and our local area, said O’Keefe, but when people realize they may not be able to get that experience, they may very well choose another destination entirely.

“Our tourism economy is good and heading towards great,” explained O’Keefe. “I don’t often refer to how we were in 2019 as if getting back to that is the goal. I consider where we would have been if not for the pandemic and, conservatively estimated, that would be about $3.6 billion this year. That is my immediate focus.”

But in most people’s minds, the pandemic is often the time post as recovery has been a long, slow process since that point in time.

O’Keefe said that Monterey County’s 2023 state and local tourism-related tax revenue – $306.9 million – is actually higher than in 2019 when the county’s total tax revenue was $297.8 million.

In 2023, Travel industry employment in Monterey County was 26.8 thousand compared to the 2019 figure of 27.2 thousand.

“Obviously, we have some additional catching up to do and it’s happening. Employment grew by 6.2% between 2023 and 2022,” said O’Keefe.

Current forecasts for 2024 indicate a flat to slightly up trajectory for all California destinations.

“We have the added pull-down of lost business from the situation with Highway 1, but we’re starting to catch our full stride in other areas like the group and international markets,” said O’Keefe. “I think 2024 is a year of continued growth for the state and for Monterey County.”