Travel Spending in Santa Ana Grew by $35 Million, Surpassing 2022 by 9.2%
Travel Santa Ana released statistics from the 2023 Economic Impact of Travel report conducted for Santa Ana by Dean Runyan Associates. In 2023, traveler expenditures from 940,341 Santa Ana visitors came to an estimated $414.7 million, an increase of more than 9% over 2022. However, it is still slightly down from pre-pandemic 2019 figures by 3.7%. The travel industry contributed more than $27 million in local and state taxes.
Without these travel-generated tax receipts, resident households in Santa Ana would pay $195 more a year in local taxes.
“Tourism plays a vital role in Santa Ana’s economy, benefiting local businesses and generating jobs in our community,” said Wendy Haase-Roberts, President & CEO, Travel Santa Ana. “Revenue generated from visitors helps fund our city’s public safety, neighborhood services, parks and recreation, and more. Plus, visitor spending in our city lessens local taxes for residents.”
The travel industry supported 2,980 Santa Ana jobs and contributed nearly $137 million in wages to the local economy.
Santa Ana’s major visitor spending categories are as follows: food service $109 million, accommodations $107 million, $81.5 million in arts, entertainment, and recreation, $63 million in local transportation and gas, $36.8 million in retail sales, and $16.7 million in food stores.
The growth of Santa Ana’s travel economy can be attributed to the increase in the volume of overnight visitors, which increased by 5.0%, and price inflation of goods and services, with food services and accommodations experiencing the highest inflationary increases.
In Orange County, travel spending grew by 5.5% in 2023 to $14.2 million, surpassing pre-pandemic levels by nearly 12%. Last year, the travel sector supported 132,710 jobs in the county. County visitor-generated tax revenue for state and local government increased by 5.4% to $1.3 million.
Statewide, travel spending grew by 5.6% in 2023 to $150.4 billion, surpassing pre-pandemic levels by 3.8%. Last year, the travel sector supported 1.2 million jobs in California. Visitor-generated tax revenue for state and local government increased by 3.7% to $12.7 billion.
These numbers are estimates from the Economic Impact of Travel report, Calendar Year 2023, a tourism economic impact study conducted by Dean Runyan Associates for Santa Ana. Dean Runyan Associates also conducts the California Travel Impacts by County reports for Visit California. Click here for the full Santa Ana report.
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