Tourism spending, and taxes down $100M

Tourism spending and tax revenues in Tuolumne County dropped $100 million in 2020-21 compared with the previous fiscal year, which generated a record-high $273 million in combined tourism dollars before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The county’s 36.8% drop in 2020-21 tourism revenues compared favorably with California as a whole, which registered a 55% drop, according to travel and tourism research firm Dean Runyan Associates, of Portland, Oregon.

“We know that since the beginning of this calendar year there has been a lot of visitation,” said Lisa Mayo, executive director of the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau, also known as Visit Tuolumne County.

Revenues from the county’s room tax — otherwise known as a Transient Occupancy Tax, or TOT — for the first half of this year were coming in higher than 2019, up 42% in the first quarter and preliminary 15% in the second, Mayo said.

Comparing this year to 2019 makes sense because it’s the most recent prepandemic calendar year on record and set a new high mark for Tuolumne County tourism, according to officials.

“That is good,” Mayo said of the 2021-2019 comparison. “Airbnbs and private vacation rentals have done well. We don’t know if this is sustainable because we feel a lot of people rented them for weeks at a time and worked from them. We don’t know what travel spending will look like, as we have mostly domestic travelers right now. International travelers tend to spend more money as they stay longer.”

COVID-19 testing has been required of all international air travelers entering the United States since Jan. 26, including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.

There has not been a ban on international tourists coming to California, the Central Sierra, and Tuolumne County, though the COVID-19 protocols have nevertheless served as disincentive barriers to tourism.

When international travelers will return to the area at pre-pandemic levels remains one of the

unknowns Mayo and her staff have to deal with this year.

“When will international travelers be allowed back?” she asked. “Is the delta variant going to set us back internationally and domestically? Will we need to shift to a local-only focus again?”

Jeff Michels, president of the Tuolumne County Lodging Association and co-owner of Sonora Inn and the under-renovation Hotel Lumberjack, said Monday that international travel is a key factor for the county’s tourism industry.

“What I think we’re seeing across the board is a significant increase in room rates,” Michels said Monday afternoon in a phone interview, “but we are not seeing a return to the occupancy levels we had in 2019, yet.

“What we can anticipate happening in 2022 is we will be able to hold or increase the same high rates we have now this season, and we will return to our 2019 occupancy levels, which will result in significantly more revenue, across the lodging industry and for TOT generation. The caveat to all this is the return of international travel.”

Mayo said she and her team see an opportunity in promoting the area for business meetings and retreats over the current fiscal year that began on July 1, as people will want to gather in smaller groups and in rural areas.

“We are building out a meeting planner guide for small corporate meetings, board retreats, weddings, etc…” she said.

When international markets open fully, Visit Tuolumne County will partner with San Francisco Travel on an international push with a 50% focus on the United Kingdom, 25% on France, and 25% on Germany, Mayo said.

It will be cooperative promotion that includes international travel trade, the tour operators and travel agents, “and getting Tuolumne County on their itineraries that will be focused on a year or two out,” Mayo said. “The big push will be for highlighting outdoor activities throughout the year, which also creates an opportunity to educate about sustainability.”

Tourism officials are also looking forward to the scheduled expiration on Sept. 30 of Yosemite National Park’s day-use reservation system that’s intended to reduce park visitors during the pandemic.

Mayo said the reservations, which are required to enter the park, are “challenging for lodging properties when they have guests who come to visit Yosemite but may not be aware of having to make day-use reservations in advance.”

The bottom line for the rest of this year and the first half of 2022 is that the county’s tourism opportunities “will shift as we see how COVID-19 plays out,” Mayo said.

“No matter what happens, we will create new ways to support our local businesses,” she said. “They’re so important and so valued.”

Overall stats from Visit Tuolumne County’s 202021 annual report show that travel spending and travel tax revenues added up to a total of $173 million in direct travel spending locally.

The county’s tourism industry also equated to 2,100 jobs, which totals do not include spending or job generation by Black Oak Casino Resort or Chicken Ranch Casino, according to Dean Runyan Associates, who estimated casino employment in the county at more than 1,500 jobs.

“No matter what happens, we will create new ways to support our local businesses. They’re so important and so valued.”

— Lisa Mayo, executive director, Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau