Despite thousands of fans expected to attend the Bay Area's six World Cup matches, hotel booking pace is trailing expectations and even lagging behind a typical summer season, according to local tourism officials.
SF tourism has experienced two years of straight growth for the first time since 2019, with an additional 500,000 tourists expected to visit the city in 2026 compared to 2025, but hotel occupancy rates are still much lower than pre-pandemic levels.
New York City's convention and visitors bureau reported that overall visits increased to 65 million in 2025, marking a 0.7% rise compared to 2024. Domestic travel saw a 1.7% increase, totaling 52.4 million visitors, while international travel experienced a decline of 3.2%. Notably, there was an uptick in visitors from Italy, Mexico, and the U.K., indicating a mixed recovery in tourism.
The underlying logic is simple: the further away a visitor comes from, the longer they tend to stay - and longer stays mean more money flowing into the local economy through lodging taxes, restaurant bills, and retail spending.
The restaurants and hotels along the Riviera Maya's golden mile in Mexico have a few visitors, but nothing is crowded. It's the low season that's the mantra repeated by hoteliers, shopkeepers, and even the mayor. The situation would be typical for this time of year the end of hurricane and seaweed season were it not for the official tourism figures showing that hotel occupancy dropped by more than 10% in September.