SeeCalifornia.com

Pictured is Santa Barbara at sunset taken from Harbor View Inn overlooking Stearns Wharf and the beach. Pay more and get the ocean view room or suite if you plan to stay there!

The U.S. may have a huge deficit and our elected officials have fallen over a fiscal cliff, but tourism seems to be going strong in California with some bright spots reported recently by destinations such as Los Angeles and Santa Barbara!

The good news is that tourism revenue is up. Is it possible that the value of our U.S. dollar is attracting all those Chinese tourists who are spending like crazy?  Whatever the magic formula for success, Los Angeles Tourism and Convention experts claim tourists spent $16.4 billion in 2012, up precisely $1 billion from 2011 when they spent $15.4 billion. Americans used to visit China for deals but now, China has became the nation’s top overseas market. In Los Angeles foreign travelers accounted for about 15% of the market share of travel last year. In Santa Barbara the City received $800,535 in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) for the month of January 2013, marking 3.3% growth over the previous January.  TOT  continues to exceed the budgeted growth estimate of 6.1%.  As you may know, Los Angeles is the top visited destination in the state, while Santa Barbara has always been the cool place on the Central Coast that combines beach lifestyle with wine country pleasure.