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SLO-Paso Robles metro ranks 50th in U.S. for international tourists

July 31, 2024

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

The San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro area ranked 50th in the United States for international tourists received in 2023, according to a report compiled by the online booking platform Luxury Link.

A total of 110,000 international tourists visited the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro area last year. The statistics exclude inbound visitors from Canada and Mexico.

The San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles area placed 11th among metros in California. Two Central Coast metro areas, Salinas and Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, ranked ahead of San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles.

Nationwide, the top five destinations for international tourists respectively were: New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, Orlando and San Francisco. 

Among states, California ranked third, trailing New York and Florida. In 2023, 9 million overseas travelers visited New York, 7.9 million visited Florida and 6.3 million visited California.

In California, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metro area received 3.6 million overseas visitors, while 2.28 million international tourists visited the San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City metro. On the Central Coast, the Salinas metro received 245,000 overseas visitors, while 186,00 international tourists visited the Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta area.

Within the national rankings, the San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles metro placed 14th in overseas visitors per 1,000 residents. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles had 390 overseas visitors per 1,000 residents.

 

The following California metro areas received the most international tourists in 2023:

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale —3.6 million (3rd in the United States)

2. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City — 2.28 million (5th in the United States)

3. San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos — 655,000 (14th in the United States)

4. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine — 626,000 (16th in the United States)

5. San Jose -Sunnyvale-Santa Clara — 387,000 (21st in the United States)

6. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario — (302,000 (23rd in the United States)

7. Salinas — 245,000 (29th in the United States)

8. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville — 198,000 (34th in the United States)

9. Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta — 186,000 (35th in the United States)

10. Oakland-Fremont-Hayward — 138,000 (46th in the United States)

11. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles — 110,000 (50th in the United States )

 


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You can bet that local government supports anything that generates new local taxes. Sadly, there is no support for the infrastructure and maintenance necessary for new growth, excepting a Mello – Roos tax, look it up. The public will stand in line for free and those who caused for this mess will retire and move elsewhere. don’t expect local opportunities for you children, do the math. They will have to move elsewhere or suckle your leftovers as their future. That said SLO County has been good for me, the immigrant, who understands that a better future requires many sacrifices. 50th place will require hard work and deferred gratitude to make it here.


3

Salinas Metro outranked both Santa Barbara and SLO-Paso!? I guess that’s on the strength of Monterey, Carmel, and [checks notes] … King City.


8

SLO holds the first motel in the world, widely known as the Motel Inn, clearly depicted by the bronze plaque visible on the existing Western wall facing the Apple Farm. More tourists might drop by this way if the owners were to open the front office and offer up some simple postcards and memorabilia.


4

The entire property is going to be renovated and opened back up soon. Post cards pending.

We don’t need any more tourists in SLO, we are maxed out just with the valley crowd.


9