Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Visit Santa Barbara reports record 2024 collections, cites airport growth and luxury demand
Summary
Visit Santa Barbara told the City Council that transient-occupancy-tax receipts and airport passengers rose about 11% in 2024, driven by higher occupancy and new nonstop flights; the tourism promotion group says it will invest roughly $7.9 million in marketing for 2025.
Visit Santa Barbara told the Santa Barbara City Council on Feb. 4 that transient-occupancy-tax (TOT) receipts and passenger traffic at Santa Barbara Airport both rose about 11% in calendar year 2024, and that the destination will invest roughly $7.9 million in promotional spending to sustain growth in 2025.
“TOT was over $3,000,000 higher than in 2023, reflecting an 11% year‑over‑year increase,” Kathy Chinega Dykes, president and CEO of Visit Santa Barbara, told the council during the organization’s annual presentation. She said hotel occupancy rose about 3% and that the local luxury lodging segment saw particularly strong demand.
The report said the airport handled roughly 1,400,000 passengers in…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
