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By Ed Moosbrugger
March 19 -- If you want to see how important the tourism
industry is to the continued economic health of Downtown Santa Monica,
a new visitor impact report will drive the point home. (see "Visitor
Volume, Spending Hit Record Levels," March 18,2008)
Visitor spending in Santa Monica jumped 58 percent to $1.22 billion
over the past three years and Downtown remained one of the favorite
destinations.
Santa Monica drew 5.78 million visitors in a 12-month period of 2006/07,
up 23.5 percent from 2003, according to a report released by the Santa
Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau (SMCVB). The bureau does a
report every three years.
Some 70.3 percent of the visitors came to the Third Street Promenade/Downtown
during their stay and 32.6 percent visited Santa Monica Place.
All in all, a very positive picture.
But there were two findings in the report prepared by Lauren Schlau
Consulting and CIC Research Inc. that raised red flags for Misti Kerns,
president/CEO of the SMCVB.
For the first time in the bureau’s history, spending by domestic
visitors exceeded that of international travelers. Kerns called that
“very concerning” because it makes Santa Monica more vulnerable
to slowdowns in the U.S. economy.
“The problem with that is that we are not as diversified,’
Kerns said.
Additionally, the average length of stay by visitors dropped 9.4 percent
between 2003 and 2006/07. “It could indicate that we are becoming
a stopover,” Kerns said.
The proportion of day visitors (from outside Los Angeles County) soared
to 83 percent from 59 percent in the prior study. “The day visitor
population has grown huge,” Kerns said.
Even with these concerns, however, most cities would love to have
the tourism numbers that Santa Monica has posted.
A recent report by PKF Consulting showed that Santa Monica had the
second highest hotel occupancy rate and third highest average room
rate in 2007 among Los Angeles County markets PKF tracks. Santa Monica’s
occupancy rate rose 0.4 percent to 81.7 percent in 2007 and its room
rates rose 9.2 percent to $274.17.
As many retailers will attest, the visitor industry continues to be
very important to Downtown Santa Monica, although Santa Monica Pier/Pacific
Park has supplanted Downtown as the top spot visited.
In 2003, Downtown was visited by 87.5 percent while the pier captured
82.5 percent. In 2006/07, the pier led with 73.5 percent, compared
to Downtown’s 70.3 percent.
The mix of visitors to Santa Monica plays a key role in the impact
on Downtown. Of people staying overnight in a hotel/motel, 79.8 percent
visited Downtown. For day visitors, it dropped to 68.6 percent. Hotel/motel
visitors were also more likely than day visitors to go to Santa Monica
Place.
It’s also important to keep attracting new visitors. Some 78.6
percent of first time visitors came to the Third Street Promenade/Downtown,
while 59.3 percent of people who had visited Santa Monica before frequented
the area.
Domestically, California, New York and Florida were the top markets
for Santa Monica.
Internationally, the United Kingdom remained the top market at 15.2
percent, while Japan rebounded to second place at 13.8 percent. At
one time, Japan was Santa Monica’s top international market
but it dropped off substantially.
The latest survey shows that Japan leaped over such markets as Australia/New
Zealand, Germany and Canada, and closed the gap with the United Kingdom.
Australia/New Zealand ranked third at 13.2 percent, with Mexico fourth
at 7.4 percent. Others in the top ten were other Central America,
Canada, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and Mainland China.
The United States is not capturing the full potential of the weak
dollar, Kerns said. Much of the problem stems from how difficult it
is to travel to the United States because of increased homeland security
safeguards.
The U.S. is getting some bad press overseas as a result, Kerns said,
citing recent headlines on travel stories out of England and Ireland
that included “Travel to America? No thanks” and “Fortress
America.”
The SMCVB is doing extensive work in the U.K and Ireland to help improve
the situation.
“We need to invite them to come and provide good information
on regulations and rules before they travel,“ Kerns said.
The SMCVB also is taking steps to encourage visitors to stay longer
once they get to Santa Monica.
It will launch an interactive seminar program “I Am Santa Monica”
this month at Santa Monica College to educate people in the industry
about the city’s various attractions and how to address various
questions from visitors.
“We want them to know the whole brand,” Kerns said.
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