Travel & Tour World: San Antonio’s Downtown And Tourism Hubs See Slow Rebound Despite New Developments

Travel and Tour World reports on the state of tourism and lodging demand in San Antonio in an article entitled San Antonio’s Downtown And Tourism Hubs See Slow Rebound Despite New Developments. Using data from Source Strategies, TTW paints the picture of weak demand in San Antonio’s critical tourism sector in the post-pandemic era.

San Antonio’s Downtown and key tourism hubs continue to face slow recovery as hotel demand lags, even with new developments and efforts to boost visitation.

San Antonio, often referred to as the Alamo City, continues to grapple with the lingering impacts of a pandemic that devastated the travel and tourism industry five years ago. While the city’s central downtown area is still feeling the aftershocks, other prominent neighborhoods that rely on visitors for economic vitality are also struggling to bounce back.

The article focuses on two submarkets, West San Antonio/Seaworld and South San Antonio. The West/Seaworld submarket has seen lower demand than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Data from Source Strategies paints a sobering picture. Hotel occupancy in the West San Antonio/SeaWorld submarket was down nearly 14% in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. This drop is particularly striking as the quarter includes part of the peak summer travel season, which is typically a high point for tourism-driven revenues.

The section about the South San Antonio submarket dives into the struggles of the Alamo City’s lowest-priced area and how the new World Heritage Site plays into the market.

Hotel occupancy in South San Antonio fell to 54.5% in Q3 2024, a staggering 17% drop from the same period in 2019. The decline in room nights sold was even more severe, plummeting nearly 24% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

These figures underscore the challenges South San Antonio faces as it works to leverage its World Heritage designation. While investments in cultural tourism and heritage sites continue, the returns have not been immediate.

While the outlook is not where local leaders want it to be, the core values of the city point to a strong upside. Read the full article, San Antonio’s Downtown And Tourism Hubs See Slow Rebound Despite New Developments, on the Travel and Tour World website.