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San Francisco expecting better tourism year with more conventions lined up

San Francisco expecting more tourists in 2025 thanks to conventions
San Francisco expecting more tourists in 2025 thanks to conventions 03:19

People from all over the Bay Area, the country, and the world, come to see John Jeide and the rest of the bartenders at The Buena Vista Café make their world-famous Irish Coffees.

Jeide estimates he's made around 3 million of them over the course of 16 years at The Buena Vista.

"That's a rough guestimate," he said, smiling.

He thinks he'll add many, many more in 2025.

"These last few weeks, we've been really crazy busy," he said.

He and the rest of the team at The Buena Vista think 2025 will be a big year for San Francisco's tourism rebound.

Larry Silva is the General Manager of the business that has stood strong on the corner of Hyde and Beach for over 110 years.

"We had a very good holiday this year. It looks like it'll continue for us," he said. "I know we'll do great. I'm hopeful that the neighbors do better."

San Francisco's tourism sector has been slow to recover since the pandemic. The past few years haven't been easy for any business to navigate, especially those in areas that cater to tourists, like Fisherman's Wharf.

"The area is struggling. The cable car is doing good. Jefferson Street, they need a turnaround. Hopefully, if the tourists come up, that will help," he said.

If you ask Anna Marie Presutti, the CEO of SF Travel, she'll tell you there are reasons to be confident that 2025 will be a good year for the city's tourism sector.

"We have a very robust convention calendar," she said. "We have over 35 conventions in the city this year. So, it's going to be a much, much better year than we had in 2024."

That means a higher hotel occupancy rate, and Presutti said there are already over 200,000 more hotel rooms on the books for 2025 than there were in 2024.

"The biggest contributor to the general fund is the hotel taxes, right? When the hotels are full and the occupancies are high, the city does better," she said. "2024 was just difficult all the way around. Tourism was down, international travel was down."

SF Travel estimates around 23 million visitors in 2025, with visitor spending reaching around $10 billion.

Presutti's job is to effectively, sell San Francisco to visitors and those who will bring events to the city.

"We joined into a partnership with United Airlines where we were able to bring out customers to A, give us a first look, or B, give us a second look. If you haven't been here in a while, it's probably time for you to come back and actually experience it for yourself. That worked wonders for us last year, us being able to get people into the city," she said. "What we kept hearing, time and time again, as we got towards the end of the year, 'This is nothing like what I saw on television, this is nothing like what people were talking about.'"

CBS News Bay Area had a chance to speak with Christopher Young, the Chief Program Officer of DECA, formerly the Distributive Education Clubs of America, that just inked a deal to bring two international conferences to San Francisco in the coming years.

"San Francisco is one of those cities that you've probably heard a lot about recently. But once you're here, you see the city, you see the energy, you understand the tech scene and the startup community – I think it'll be such a great location for our emerging leaders and entrepreneurs to experience," Young said. "The walkability, the hotels, the things to do in the city, the Moscone Center – all of those components will be a great opportunity for our high school students to experience an iconic city and to be able to show off their business skills in such a fabulous location."

With all eyes on San Francisco this year, hosting marquee events including the NBA All-Star Game in February, Presutti said the city needs to be on its best game.

"We have to show up, and we have to look our best and be our best," she said.

Jeide said he's seeing proof that the outside perception of San Francisco is changing.

"I mean, I had a guy here from Iowa the other day who said, 'You know what, I've been here four days John. I'm really impressed with this town. I'd heard a lot about it, but I'm really impressed with it,'" he said. "He was good and that was good to hear that. I had positive thoughts, finally."

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