The terminal at Fresno Yosemite International Airport welcomes disembarking travelers. Expansion at the airport has been crucial for a 14% increase in air travel spending by tourists. Photo by Ben Hensley

Central Valley tourism continued its upward trajectory in 2023, with the four-county area generating about $3 billion in travel-related spending as California’s tourism industry continues to recover from the pandemic.

The annual tourism spending report was released by state board Visit California and prepared by Dean Runyan Associates.

Fresno County generated $1.74 billion in direct travel spending in 2023, up nearly 1% annually. Travel spending has steadily increased since a low of $930 million in 2020. Fresno County surpassed pre-pandemic travel spending levels in 2022.

State and local tax receipts in Fresno County from travel totaled $142 million in 2023, up slightly from 2022. Travel-generated employment totaled 16,590, up 5%.

Most categories of Fresno County visitor spending increased in 2023, with the exception of retail sales (down 0.6%) and local transportation and gas (down 7.3%)

Visitor air travel spending was up last year for a total of $70 million.

Fresno County hotel/motel spending totaled $516 million, down 2.4%. That looks to change in the coming years, with several new hotels aiming to welcome tourists and conventions back to the Central Valley, said Visit Fresno County President and CEO Lisa Oliveira.

“Our goal for 2024 is to book more events and to remind people that Fresno County is a tourist destination by showcasing the incredible things to do in our cities and nearby national parks,” she said in a statement. “It is truly the place to experience California from a different view.”

Fresno has seen several hotels break ground over the past several years, with Courtyard by Marriott’s new hotel scheduled to open later this year. Additionally, construction on a new Hilton Garden Inn at the corner of Blackstone and Barstow avenues is nearing completion, with groundbreaking at Campus Pointe’s Hyatt House extended-stay hotel taking place last fall.

Additionally, out-of-area travel also saw an increase, with Fresno-Yosemite International Airport seeing a revenue increase of nearly 14%. Expansion at the airport played a large role in the increase.

“The expansion has been tremendous for the local tourism industry,” Oliveira said. “The easier it is to get to Fresno, the more we will continue to see that growth.”

Tulare County direct travel spending totaled $590 million in 2023, up 0.5% from 2022. Travel-related employment totaled 6,100 last year, up 4.1%. Local and state tax receipts were $53.4 million, up 0.3%

Kings County direct travel spending totaled $226.3 million, down slightly from 2022. Tax receipts totaled 18.7%, down 1.6%.

In Madera County — a key gateway to Yosemite National Park — direct travel spending totaled $430.1 million in 2023, up nearly 6%. Tax receipts related to travel totaled $37.8 million, up 2.7% from last year.

“Tourism really started to make a fairly strong comeback in 2023,” said Steve Montalto, Creative Director at Visit Yosemite Madera County. “We saw visitation climb back up a fair amount, especially at the park, but also here at Bass Lake and the other stuff here in town at Oakhurst and the surrounding area.”

Additionally, Montalto said that there were initial weather-related challenges in winter and spring of 2023.

Despite those challenges, however, Montalto said that the year was largely a success, adding that both local and international travel saw growth throughout the year with countries in Europe and Asia continuing to open international travel following the pandemic.

Tourism industry employment in the Valley has boomed since the pandemic. In 2020, the Fresno, Kings, Madera, and Tulare counties saw approximately 22,650 industry employees; as of 2023, that number had risen to approximately 30,400.

“We will likely see this trend continue through this year and into next year,” Oliveira said about employment figures. “Beyond accommodations, this includes transportation, retail, arts and food service.”

Recent studies also continue to rank California high for vacation destinations, with hospitality-management system provider cloudbeds.com recently placing California second behind only Florida as tourist destinations.

Overall, California saw more than $150.4 billion in travel-related spending in 2023, an increase of 5.6% from 2022, continuing the upward trend since 2020.

Tourism brought in more than $12.7 billion in state and local tax revenue and also added more than 65,000 industry-related jobs, bringing the total of tourism-related employees to more than 1.2 million.