By Ed Moosbrugger              

July 13, 2012 -- In what was a major boost for Downtown Santa Monica businesses, the city’s tourism industry had what visitor industry officials called a “break-out” year in 2011 amid major shifts in where visitors came from.

In 2011, the number of visitors from outside Los Angeles County jumped 6.5 percent from 2009 to 6.7 million while spending rose an impressive 20.4 percent to $1.39 billion, according to the latest Santa Monica tourism impact study from the Santa Monica Convention & Visitors Bureau (SMCVB). It was a strong rebound from the recession, the bureau noted. 

Downtown Santa Monica was a major beneficiary because almost 74 percent of the visitors came to the Third Street Promenade/Downtown and almost 30 percent took in Santa Monica Place. Those venues ranked second and fourth in popularity, while Santa Monica Pier ranked first and Santa Monica Beach third.

These visitors gave a big boost to local businesses, with 53 percent eating in restaurants and 44 percent shopping. The share of visitors coming for pleasure/vacation jumped to 75 percent in 2011 from 60 percent in 2009. U.S. domestic visitors grew by almost 10 percent, while international travelers increased by nearly 3 percent.
           
A bigger share of domestic visitors came from within California, while important changes took place among international visitors. The United Kingdom, once ranked first internationally, has fallen to fifth, while there has been a big jump in the share of visitors coming from the Middle East, South America and Mexico.

“The increased visitation within California jumped a little more than we thought,” said Misti Kerns, president/CEO of the SMCVB.         

Significantly, the average visitor in 2011 had a higher income and spent more than in 2009. The median household income was $85,700 in 2011, compared with $66,700 in 2009.

“The product we have is allowing more spending across the board,” Kerns said. The reopening of Santa Monica Place in August 2010 helped.

Although most of the trends are positive, there are some negatives. Visitors aren’t staying as long, and the share of coveted international visitors fell to 46 percent of the total in 2011 from 48 percent in 2009, according to the study for the SMCVB by Horizon Consumer Science and CIC Research, Inc.

Kerns would like to see the share of international visitors at 50 percent or more of the total because they spend more and use cars less. Also of concern: the average length of stay by overnight visitors fell to 3.9 nights from 5.4.
           
Fascinating changes are taking place in the origin of visitors to Santa Monica. Within the domestic market, California’s share jumped to 35.5 percent in 2011 from 27 percent in 2009, perhaps because people are staying closer to home on their vacations. Texas ranked second at 5.8 percent, up from 2.2 percent. New York was third at 5.6 percent, down from 6.7 percent.
 
Internationally, Australia/New Zealand was number one, but its share of foreign visitors fell to 9.8 percent from 13.1 percent in 2009. Santa Monica has been tapping that market for some time, but now is facing increased competition from other cities.

Germany was second internationally at 6.6 percent, off from 8.9 percent. Others in the top 10 were Japan, Asia-Pacific Islands, United Kingdom, Middle East, South American countries (excluding Brazil), Mexico, China-Hong Kong and Canada-Western. The United Kingdom fell to 6.3 percent from 10.6 percent in 2009.

Currently, the SMCVB is focusing heavily on Brazil, India, Canada and Australia. “Those are the ones we are really targeting,” while also maintaining efforts to attract visitors from the U.K., Kerns said.

Santa Monica is going after Brazil and India because of their strong economic growth. Kerns expects Brazil to become a top-10 market for Santa Monica, which is why the SMCVB is tracking that country separately in its research.

The SMCVB would also like to do more with countries such as China and South Korea, but the markets are expensive to develop, Kerns said.

The bureau is looking for ways to increase funds available to capture more international business. A tourism business improvement district is among the possibilities being explored, Kerns said.

Meanwhile, efforts by individual hotels are also boosting the market. Kerns noted, for example, that some hotels have been promoting business from the Middle East, which jumped to 6 percent of international visitors in Santa Monica in 2011, from 1.7 percent in 2009.

Santa Monica also will benefit from tourism promotion efforts by California and the United States, Kerns said.

“There is a very strong wave we are riding,” she said. That’s appropriate for one of the top ten beach cities in the world, as ranked by National Geographic.