As Election Day approaches and Santa Barbara prepares to welcome new elected leaders, voters will hear a great deal about priorities such as public safety, housing, transportation, economic vitality, and downtown revitalization.
Those conversations are important, and so is the question: Do our candidates understand the role the visitor economy plays in Santa Barbara’s future?
After more than two decades in tourism, I have seen firsthand how closely the visitor economy and quality of life are connected. Yet that connection is sometimes overlooked.
Tourism is often viewed as a standalone industry, but in reality, its impact reaches nearly every corner of our community. Visitors support local hotels, restaurants, retailers, museums, arts organizations, attractions, and transportation providers, helping sustain thousands of jobs and businesses that serve residents and visitors alike.
They also generate meaningful revenue for the area. During the last fiscal year, the City of Santa Barbara alone collected more than $38 million in Transient Occupancy Tax from overnight visitors. Those funds support services residents rely on every day, including public safety, parks and recreation, libraries, and other community investments.
But its value extends beyond tax revenue.
Think about the places and experiences that make Santa Barbara special. Perhaps it is a favorite restaurant, a locally owned shop, an evening at the Santa Barbara Bowl, a festival or a walk along the waterfront. Visitors are drawn to those same experiences, and they help sustain the businesses and institutions that define Santa Barbara’s character.
The attributes that make Santa Barbara an exceptional place to live also attract visitors from around the world. Clean beaches, a vibrant downtown, welcoming public spaces, art and culture, distinctive neighborhoods, and a strong sense of place matter to both residents and visitors.
This overlap is why those of us who work in tourism care deeply about issues that may not traditionally be viewed through a tourism lens. Housing and workforce challenges, transportation, public safety, infrastructure, and environmental stewardship all shape how people experience our community.
At Visit Santa Barbara, our responsibility is to inspire overnight travel to the Santa Barbara South Coast and keep our destination competitive. We attract meetings and group business, generate media coverage, and promote the experiences that make our region unique while looking out for the interests of our local residents.
Santa Barbara’s natural beauty and reputation — which we’ve worked diligently to cultivate and protect over decades — give us an extraordinary advantage, but they do not guarantee future visitation. Destinations across California, the nation and the world compete for the same travelers, meetings, and events. When visitors choose another destination, the economic benefits associated with that trip are realized somewhere else.
That is especially important during slower periods, when visitor spending helps businesses sustain jobs and support consistent economic activity year-round.
Maintaining a healthy visitor economy and championing issues of concern to residents are not competing goals. They are closely connected. For those of us working in tourism, that means attracting visitors in a way that benefits the community and protects what residents value.
Local leaders’ decisions about downtown vitality, special events, housing, short-term rentals, and taxation are not simply tourism issues or resident issues. They are community issues. Decisions that help make Santa Barbara safe, vibrant, welcoming, and economically healthy for residents also strengthen our appeal as a destination and underpin the success of our hospitality industry.
As voters evaluate candidates and their priorities for Santa Barbara’s future, the visitor economy should remain part of the broader conversation about economic strength and quality of life.
Santa Barbara’s success as a destination begins with its success as a community. A strong community creates a place people want to visit, and a healthy visitor economy helps sustain the place residents are proud to call home. As we welcome a new generation of local leaders, understanding that connection will be critical to Santa Barbara’s future.
