From our own Monterey Herald, about the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau on their plans for promoting our area:
I would like to point out a few important take-always from this article:
2018 Travel Impacts report: Monterey County visitor spending up 5.8% to $3B
Tourism jobs up 2.8%, total tax contributions up 8.2%, local tax money up 8% over 2017
“The plan for increasing tourism to Monterey County is two-tiered – one, increasing the number of travelers, and two, increasing visitor spending.
“We are focused on both levels – more travelers which will drive up hotel occupancy, which is essential. But we are intensifying our focus on higher-value travelers who stay longer, do more and spend more,” said O’Keefe. “These are typically people who are traveling from further away … and meetings/conference travelers who are very high value.”
The MCCVB marketing officer said a focus on the drive market – those who travel here by car – will be maintained and will never change.”
”According to the report, the county receives the lion’s share of travel impacts in the region with 33%, followed closely by Monterey with 30%, Salinas with 14%, Carmel with 8%, Seaside (including Sand City and Del Rey Oaks) with 7%, Pacific Grove with 5%, and Marina with 4%.”
How much of this income is brought in BECAUSE of Big Sur? I am willing to bet that the majority of it is. How much does Big Sur receive in infrastructure and/or law enforcement to handle it? Very little, is my bet on this end of the equation.
And one thing MCCVB will be concentrating on is bringing in more visitors on the off season, so we can expect summer-like traffic all year.