Visit Santa Barbara hosts tourism meeting
Tracy Lehr
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Annual General Meeting & Tourism Celebration lost its annual designation during the pandemic cancellation last year, but it made a comeback on Wednesday in Santa Barbara.
People who run tourism businesses are still understaffed, but they managed to take the time to attend the event at the Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort.
The nonprofit marketing organization Visit Santa Barbara put on the event in the outdoor rotunda.
Visit Santa Barbara President and CEO Kathy Janega-Dykes gave the industry update.
Janega-Dykes said 640,000 hotel room nights were lost, costing the industry $170 million in revenue. At its lowest point occupancy dipped to 13 percent the second week of April 2020. She called it one of the hardest hit industries with 50 percent unemployment.