Good year expected for tourism

Visit Santa Barbara delivers promising news at its annual summit

By CALEB BEEGHLY NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

Despite a rough start, 2023 will be a good year for the local tourism industry.

That was the message at Visit Santa Barbara’s annual Tourism Summit Thursday at the Cabrillo Pavilion.

Visit Santa Barbara invited local businesses to hear timely insights and updates across marketing, sales and community partnerships, as they work to promote Santa Barbara.

Success this year won’t come easy, said Kathy Janega-Dykes, the VSB president and CEO, one of the speakers. Already, there was a rough beginning this year because of factors such as airline disruptions, economic concerns and the storms, she said.

“Santa Barbara must compete aggressively,” said Ms. JanegaDykes, reminding the businesses at the summit that there are many other cities looking to reignite their tourism industries.

However, Ms. Janega-Dykes expressed confidence in the beauty and the people of Santa Barbara. “VSB has the best success when working together with businesses and residents in mind.”

The summit included a review of Santa Barbara’s current economy.

Over the last month, hotel occupancies have gone down (due to the recent flooding), but Visit Santa Barbara has increased its ad spending by around 600%, generating about 424,000 users who followed the ad to a local business’ website. For businesses looking for more public relations, VSB suggests using TikTok.

In other good news, the Santa Barbara Airport’s capacity has gone up by 21%, allowing more tourists to fly in, and leisure and hospitality jobs have fully recovered to pre-COVID numbers (about 28,600). That’s according to numbers announced at the