California tourism is promoted by the state’s 14 California Welcome and Tourist Information Centers, as well as individual California conventions and visitors bureaus. This California cities list may also be useful for determining the convention and visitors bureaus you wish to contact.
In 2008, the California travel and tourism industry generated $1.6 billion in local taxes and $2.8 billion in state taxes on total direct travel spending of $97.6 billion. California hosted approximately 23.9 million international visitors in 2007, and international visitors contributed more than 19% of all travel spending in the state in 2008. The top five overseas visitor market countries in 2007 were the United Kingdom (765,000 visitors), Japan (675,000), Australia (333,000), South Korea (331,000) and Germany (322,000). In addition to overseas visitors, there were 7.4 million Mexican visitors and 1.2 million Canadian visitors to the state in 2007.
In 2008, California received the second-highest number of international travelers of all the United States. New York ranked first, and Florida was only about 50,000 visitors behind California according to statistics published by The United States States Department of Commerce, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.
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California was the destination of approximately 351 million total domestic and international travelers in 2008. California tourism is the state’s fourth largest employer (providing employment for nearly 1 million residents) and among the top three gross state product export-oriented industries.
Californians themselves are the mainstay of the state’s travel and tourism industry, comprising 86 percent of domestic travel, or 290 million person-trips. Out-of-state visitors account for 48 million person-trips to and through the state, and California’s top domestic markets in 2007 were Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Oregon, Washington and Illinois. (Statistics source: California Travel and Tourism Commission.) California garnered a 10.8% market share of total U.S. domestic travel in 2004, and 20.7% of all overseas travel to America.
Dining, shopping and entertainment are the most popular expenditure-based activities among California travelers. Sightseeing, followed by visiting theme/amusement parks and beach/waterfront activities, are the most popular recreational pursuits.
Photo of San Francisco Cable Car by David Paul Ohmer via flickr (Creative Commons).
Related posts:
California Tourist Attractions
Note: Information in this article was accurate
when it was published, but hours, prices, etc.
change constantly. Please confirm details
with local contacts before traveling.
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