San Francisco Travel Association

Why do people visit San Francisco? The sights and scenery. The one-of-a-kind events and world-class food. The welcoming people, the diversity and rich history...But perhaps, more importantly, it has to do with the fact that no other city is as adept at combining disparate elements to create something new: taking the familiar and marrying it to the unknown; merging people’s expectations to moments of unpredictability; uniting long-held notions with startling innovations.

Clearly, the attraction of San Francisco is not any one thing, but the combination of many different things. As an organization, we see the city in its entirety — through the eyes of the people who live here, the people who love it and the people who love to come here. And as proud as we are to help people arrange their visits to San Francisco, we see our mission in even broader scope: We believe our true value lies not just in our ability to sell our city, but in our role as curators of the most interesting 49 square miles on the planet.

We are the San Francisco Travel Association. And we are the window into the City by the Bay.

For more than 100 years the San Francisco Travel Association has worked on behalf of its partners to promote San Francisco as the destination of choice for conventions and leisure travel. The Association is an outgrowth of the San Francisco Convention and Tourist League, a non-profit, local business association founded in 1909 to reclaim the City's position as a world-class destination in the wake of the devastating 1906 earthquake and fire.

San Francisco Travel continues that mission today, aggressively marketing and selling San Francisco to attract visitors. San Francisco Travel is a private, not-for-profit, 501(c)6 membership organization, headed by a Board of Directors made up of 45 business leaders from various companies, elected by the membership. Additionally, in 2003, the Association established a 501(c)3 foundation to raise scholarship funds for students enrolled in local hospitality management programs and to produce educational programs.

In 2014, San Francisco hosted more than 18 million visitors who spent $10.67 billion during their stay. That makes tourism one of our most important industries.

Here's why:

• Visitor dollars spent here generated $665 million in taxes and fees that support The City's general budget, health and safety, arts and cultural organizations, recreational facilities and low-income
housing.
• Visitor dollars supported more than 87,000 jobs in the hospitality and tourism industries. That's about $2.67 billion in local payroll (excluding tips).