San Francisco, CA—Mayor London N. Breed and Supervisor Aaron Peskin today announced the approval of the San Francisco Tourism Improvement District (TID), a key component to the city’s post pandemic economic recovery. The renewal of the TID expanded to include short-term rental accommodations and will generate revenue through the assessment of hotel rooms and short-term rentals for the next 15 years, starting January 2024 to December 31, 2038. The TID is designed to drive and increase tourism, attract conventions and promote San Francisco as a global destination. Supervisor Matt Dorsey who represents the South of Market neighborhood in District 6 also co-sponsored this legislation.  

The revenue generated from this increase will create a buy-down fund to attract and retain convention business at Moscone Center. It will offset the rental of Moscone including costs such as security and transportation. 

The district will provide specific benefits to businesses operating tourist hotels and short-term residential rentals by funding sales, marketing, and promotional activities; special industry events designed to attract leisure travelers, conventions, meetings and events; and create a buy-down fund to help attract and provide support for qualifying events at the Moscone Convention Center.  The renewal of the TID is part of San Francisco’s Downtown Economic Recovery, which is being built on five key areas of focus: filling vacancies and diversifying industries; enhancing downtown vibrancy; maintaining a clean and safe city; increasing and improving access to downtown; and growing the City’s labor force.  

“San Francisco is a global destination for tourism and hospitality," said Mayor London Breed. “Visitors support our local small businesses, and their spending supports one of the largest job sectors in our City. Our focus right now is on making San Francisco a welcoming, safe, and attractive place so that people want to come and when they do come, they have an incredible experience. The renewal and expansion of the TID will help us support bringing more people to San Francisco, which is essential for our Economic Recovery.” 

Tourism is vital to the city’s economy. Travel and tourism is the top generator of outside revenue into San Francisco’s economy, bringing in more than $9 billion in annual economic revenue. The hotel industry is a significant employment sector in the City and it relies on robust travel and tourism.  

“The expansion of the Tourism Improvement District is one part of the City’s overall post-pandemic recovery effort, providing critical visibility and promotion of our ongoing efforts to increase public safety, street cleanliness and unique activation in the heart of San Francisco’s tourism core,” said District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin. 

“Not only is District 6 one of the most densely populated areas in San Francisco, it’s also home to dozens of hotels that support San Francisco’s travel and tourism industries, which is driven largely by the world-class Moscone Convention Center,” said District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “City policy makers should be doing everything we can to incentivize businesses to book conventions in San Francisco, and I’m proud to join Supervisor Aaron Peskin in the renewal and expansion of the Tourism Improvement District during a time where we need fight for a full post-pandemic economic recovery.”

According to SF Travel, San Francisco is expected to receive 21.5 million visitors in 2022 compared to 2021’s 17 million visitors, an increase of 26.5%. Visitor spending is forecast to be up 89.3% in 2022 to $6.7 billion, but down 30.2% compared to 2019, when the city had a record 26.2 million visitors and $9.6 billion in visitor spending. 

 In addition to the increase in assessment and the inclusion of short-term rentals in in the renewal, the TID will also adopt industry best practice and add operational flexibility by authorizing a supermajority of the San Francisco Tourism Improvement District Management Corporation (SFTIDMC) Board of Directors to increase assessments by up to 1% to meet unforeseen or critical needs and costs of business attraction and retention. It also expands the SFTIDMC Board of Directors to include seats for a short-term residential rental host, the City Administrator, and the City Controller (representatives of San Francisco’s hotel industry will continue to hold a majority of seats on the SFTIDMC Board). 

The San Francisco Tourism Improvement District (TID) was formed in 2008 and became effective in January 2009.  it was one of the first to be established in California, and this is the TID’s first renewal since its formation. 

For more information, visit the San Francisco Tourism Improvement District website at http://www.sftid.com/faq.html 

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