From the North Bay Business Journal
Staff Report
NAPA — In 2014, Napa Valley welcomed 3.3 million visitors, who spent $1.63 billion during their stays, according to a new tourism report.
Since 2012, the number of visitors has increased 11 percent from 2.94 million, according to the report commissioned by Visit Napa Valley, the county’s official tourism booster.
In 2014, the majority of the revenue, $1.2 billion, was generated from hotel stays, which generated $64.2 million in tax revenues from the transient occupancy tax (hotel tax), sales taxes and property and transfer taxes paid on lodging facilities.
Guests spent an average of $389 per person, per day, with the majority of this spending attributed to wine purchases, with 83 percent visiting wineries and/or tasting rooms, followed by restaurants. That is a 10 percent increase from the last visitor report in 2012, when average daily spending was $354 per person.
Last year, international travelers made up 13.6 percent of all visitors, an increase of more than 88 percent over 2012.
“We’re very pleased with the significant increase in international visitation in 2014, which is a very positive sign of the increasingly world-class status of the Napa Valley,” said Clay Gregory, president and CEO of Visit Napa Valley in a statement. “Additionally, ‘Cabernet Season’ (November through April) occupancy has grown nearly six times more than occupancy during peak season, which is May through October.”
The average visitor in 2014 has made 2.3 trips to the Valley in the past 12 months, and nearly 93 percent of visitors stated that they were “very likely” or “likely” to return.
Tourism is one of the largest industries in the Napa Valley and supports an estimated 11,776 jobs. The majority of those jobs are in the hotel and restaurant industries.
Read more at http://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/northbay/napacounty/3989262-181/report-napa-tourism-generates-16b#xG815Umou0ORaPDO.99