2026 National Travel & Tourism Week logo, featuring blue and orange text on a dark background.

National Travel & Tourism Week

May 3-9, 2026

Travel is essential to San Diego's regional economy

Travel Helps Power the Economy

 

Travel and tourism remain a cornerstone of San Diego’s regional economy. In calendar year 2025, San Diego County welcomed approximately 32.4 million visitors, who spent an estimated $14.4 billion across the region’s hotels, cultural institutions, attractions, small businesses, restaurants, and bars. In fiscal year 2025, visitor activity generated roughly $425 million in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenues countywide, helping fund essential public services such as police, fire, emergency response, infrastructure, and community programs. In addition, broader tourism‑related taxes—including sales, property, and other local taxes—contribute more than $1 billion annually, easing the average household tax burden in San Diego County by nearly $1,000 per year.

The Importance of Business and International Travel

Business travel continued to provide a steady base of demand across the region in 2025, supporting hotels, meeting venues, and related industries. At the same time, international travel has faced a slower and more uneven recovery compared with domestic travel. Ongoing global economic uncertainty, higher travel costs, visa‑related frictions, and evolving federal policies have weighed on demand from several international origin markets. As a result, the full recovery of international visitation to San Diego is now expected to extend into the latter part of the decade, with current forecasts suggesting a return to pre‑pandemic international volumes closer to 2029, rather than earlier projections. Despite these challenges, San Diego’s diverse mix of leisure, business, and drive‑market travel continues to provide a resilient foundation for the region’s visitor economy.

The Power of Tourism

Each year, we join the U.S. Travel Association in celebrating National Travel & Tourism Week (NTTW), as tourism professionals in the United States unite to celebrate the value travel holds for the economy, businesses, and travel-related employment across the nation. We invite you to learn more about why travel matters to San Diego on this site and how you can become an advocate for the industry in your local community.

Below you will find useful information to help tell the San Diego tourism story: Fact sheets, social media assets, suggested copy and infographics that help share the impact tourism has on the San Diego region.