Why is tourism important to our local economy?
In 2016, travel-generated spending totaled $1.58 billion, and contributed $18 million to local tax revenue in San Luis Obispo County. In the same year, travel created 17,810 reported jobs, and makes up 10.2% of total employment in our area.
Without this important influx of spending, San Luis Obispo County wouldn’t be able to encourage the entrepreneurs that line the streets of downtown, or employ the students that pay their way through school, or fix the potholes in the streets that plague us all.
Visitors help our county thrive. The Central Coast Tourism Council (CCTC) is an organization that recognizes the importance of regional tourism. CCTC provides marketing programs to increase tourism to our part of the state in ways that individual destinations can’t do alone.
In a time where texting language has become colloquial acronyms used in our everyday language, CCTC reminds us of an acronym not heard often enough, and that is PCH. The Pacific Coast Highway winds through miles of incredible coastline along national and state parks, world-class wine regions, and classic beach towns. CCTC helps tourists re-discover the joy of “the Original Road Trip” and navigate their way along the coast of California, supporting tourism from Santa Cruz all the way down to Ventura County.
To learn more about what CCTC does and plan your own road trip, visit www.theoriginalroadtrip.com.
