SAINT ANTONY – Tourism and hospitality are cornerstones of San Antonio’s economy. So are we starting to return to pre-pandemic levels?
The President and CEO of Visit San Antonio joined Leading SA on Sunday to discuss how the past two years have been amid the COVID-19 pandemic and what’s next.
“In 2019, we saw $17.4 billion in economic impact to our community through tourism and travel in San Antonio. Almost $500 million of that was tax revenue. This goes straight to our San Antonio public schools, our roads and sanitation, our public safety, like the police and fire departments. So our team was really focused on making a difference and getting our city back to pre-pandemic numbers,” said Marc Anderson.
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Just last week the Texas High School Coaches Association was in town and it was a great update on the current state of hospitality and tourism.
“Well the coaches, which is one of our largest groups in San Antonio, had a record turnout last summer with more than 15,000 in attendance. This year it was more than 16,000,” Anderson said.
“…One of our goals and our strategic plan that we have completed was to reach pre-pandemic occupancy levels of 66% by the end of 2024. We will hopefully achieve that by the end of this year . So business is coming back.”
As for the next steps, Visit San Antonio is excited about the expansion of San Antonio International Airport and the resulting impact.
“It is badly needed and comes at a phenomenal time as we revitalize travel and tourism for San Antonio in a post-pandemic world. We just started a new initiative with Greater SATX and the city of San Antonio and the airport,” Anderson said. “We’re going to stick with these strategic goals and these discussions to ensure our airport has some non-stop international flights over the next 12 to 18 months.”
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