Lodi Sees Rise In Tourism
LODI (CBS13) — People going on vacation are no longer booking exotic trips. Instead, they have their eye on a small community here in the valley.
The Visitors Bureau in Lodi said the roads are busy with more cars filled with out-of-towners ready to pour their money into the city.
When it comes to fine wine, Barbara Hare and George Kornhoff know exactly where to go. They both live in Southern California and have no problem driving up to Lodi.
"We've been here a couple of times, and I like the area," said Hare.
Over the last year, leaders with visit Lodi say the city has become a summer destination for a lot of people. Part of the reason? The devastating wildfires in the Napa Valley that burned more than 220,000 acres.
"When there were the wildfires last year, we definitely saw people that came to Lodi because of that. They were looking for a wine region they could go to that maybe wasn't impacted by those fires," said Nancy Beckman, president and CEO of Visit Lodi.
Lodi had less than a dozen wineries 17 years ago. Today, it has more than 85. Leaders with the visitors center say most are family-run businesses.
"When you walk into a wine tasting room, you are more than likely are going to be talking to an owner of the winery, it's going to be someone within the family and they truly have an invested interest in your experience," she said.
Lodi sees roughly 2 million visitors a year. Summertime is historically slow, but the number of visitors has grown over the last several years.
"We act as concierges so, when they come into this region, we're able to say go here too, you're going to have a great experience, go discover this little thing you might not know about," said Jeremy Trettevik, owner of Jeremy Wine Company.
He said visitors have come from New York, Missouri, even Belgium. Its wine club membership continues to grow.
"It's very exciting to see those people coming in from all over the country and all over the world," said Trettevik.