San Francisco counts on Indian visitors for tourism growth recovery

In 2022, India ranked among San Francisco's top five visitor markets with 150,000 visitors. Visitor volume from India is expected to grow by 34 percent in 2023

San Francisco is looking to Indian visitors for tourism recovery after the slow reopening of Asian markets affected the travel growth in the Golden Gate city. In 2022, India ranked among San Francisco's top five visitor markets with 150,000 visitors. Visitor volume from India is expected to grow by 34 percent in 2023.

"In 2023, we are expecting the visitor volume out of India to match up with 2019 levels and India will be the first overseas market (excluding Canada and Mexico) to go back to 2019 levels," Hubertus Funke, Executive Vice-President & Chief Tourism Officer, San Francisco Travel Association (SFTA), told Moneycontrol.

In 2019, the Golden Gate city recorded 2.10 lakh visitors from India, which is expected to reach 2.11 lakh by the end of 2023.

However, spending by travellers is yet to see a full recovery. "Indian travellers spent $497 million in 2019 and we are expecting that number to be $436 million by the end of this year. So, in terms of spending we are not quite there yet," he said.

Funke said that pre-pandemic India was the fastest growing market and in the post-Covid phase the trend is picking up again.

"India is the third largest market overseas after the UK and Germany. While the two nations have been traditionally strong markets, we are not seeing the same dynamic growth that we are seeing for India. In 2019, 20-25 percent of our visitors came from international markets but those visitors made up for 65 percent of all spending. This shows how significant drivers are international markets for San Francisco and within that India is the driver," said Funke.

It is a critical market for San Francisco, said Kevin Bumen, Chief Financial and Commercial Officer at San Francisco International Airport. "Delhi alone is number 8 in our rankings for passenger traffic and has become a large market because of more direct flights. When we look at Mumbai versus Delhi, Mumbai is number two in terms of passenger traffic in 2023 with around 200 passengers each day as against 300 per day for Delhi."

Bumen said that the growth in the Indian market would have been different if United Airlines was flying 14 flights a week between India-US. "But they (United Airlines) are currently unable to fly because of the Russian air space restriction. We are in talks with airlines for a new service. However, there is no development at present. But there is potential to increase services. Also, if we look at the latter half of the decade we see more upcoming airports in the Indian market. There is a lot of room for growth."

He added that technology is a huge part of travel growth when it comes to India. "San Francisco is in the process of reinventing itself as a hub for AI (artificial intelligence). San Francisco is considered now a cerebral valley from Silicon Valley. There are 20 leading AI companies that have a presence in the city. We are seeing hunger and appetite for new technology and that’s what puts us in a unique position with India where there is also hunger for tech," said Funke.

He added that the Bay area has the largest Indian population in the US and there are are lot of tech professionals, who travel back and forth. "We are seeing strong demand for business travel with San Francisco being a hub of innovation and India being at the forefront in technology."

Indians visiting the Golden Gate City for business purposes or to meet friends and family mostly extend their stays to explore the city, said Funke.

"We see segments blending as travellers coming to visit friends and family extend their stay to visit places or those coming for business meetings stay a couple of days more for leisure travel. This is unique for the Indian market as we don't see this in other markets," he said.