Skift Take
Several years of devastating wildfires have taken a toll on California tourism but have not affected overall visitor numbers. Instead, the fires have changed the way the state markets itself and made it harder for tourism employees to live in California.
After several years of unprecedented wildfires, many of them raging through national forests and the celebrated Napa/Sonoma wine region, California’s tourism industry is up against what former Governor Jerry Brown calls “the new abnormal.”
While visitor numbers remain strong, California tourism marketers are grappling with other challenges, some of them exacerbated by the fires. These issues include a lack of affordable housing for service employees and the need to steer wine tourism away from the popular — and most fire-prone — fall harvest season.
There are also worries that the image of the Golden State may be irrevocably tarnished.
Among those concerned about all of these issues is Caroline Beteta, CEO of Visit California, the statewide tourism marketing arm. In particular, she is frustrated by dramatic media coverage that gives the impression the entire state is engulfed in flames.
“There is a real threat to our brand being tarnished, with these visual images year after year,” she said. “This year was actually the fifth lightest fire season for California in 25 years, but this was not mentioned once during the coverage. There was no loss of life, and just one winery out of many hundreds was burned.”
Despite the wildfires, California visitation and visitor spending have continued to grow for the past nine years. According to figures from Visit California, nearly 42 million visitors arrived in California on domestic flights last year, up by 7.3 percent in 2017, while visitor spending hit an estimated $140.7 billion.
Marketing Changes
Even so, the wildfires have pr
