Isabel Stanley, Dailymail.Com 2024-06-20 03:02 Updated 2024-06-20 05:41
San Francisco is banking on its unusual features to attract more tourists with a surprise advertising campaign.
The crime-ridden city is in the grip of a homelessness crisis, with businesses fleeing and residents leaving.
As part of an effort to lure tourists back, San Francisco is touting an unusual feature: its cold climate.
Coastal cities are advertising gloomy weather and cool temperatures as swaths of the United States are hit by a dangerous, record-breaking heatwave.
Pier 39 marketers have put up billboards in hot inland cities, telling sweaty passersby that “it’s cool down on the Gulf Coast.”
To attract tourists back, San Francisco is exaggerating one of its unusual features: its cold weather.
As a heat dome spreads across the Northeast, sending temperatures reaching at least 90 degrees and raising the body temperatures of more than 270 million Americans, San Francisco is billing itself as a safe, cool port.
The city is known for the fog generated by cool ocean breezes and warm ground, which keeps temperatures low.
Randall Scott, who owns Fisherman’s Wharf in the city, told The Wall Street Journal that he often bragged to his family about the city’s cool climate.
He said: “People say, ‘It’s awful here,’ and I say, ‘It’s 58 degrees here,’ and they say, ‘How awful!'”
Unsuspecting visitors assume this is a hot seaside town and are often surprised by how cold it is when they arrive.
“People are coming in T-shirts and shorts because they think it’s going to be warm,” cruise ship operator Chris Vardigian told The Wall Street Journal.
Jamie and Kelly Burmeister, visitors from Nebraska, learned that harsh reality after taking a tour of Alcatraz on a June day when temperatures never rose above 58 degrees, they told the Journal.
“The coldest thing was the wind, so I layered up with what I had. In Omaha, you wear shorts from May through September.”
The weather has been an unexpected blessing for the struggling city, which has struggled with rising crime and homelessness rates since the pandemic began.
But tourism is on the rise, with visitor numbers expected to return to pre-pandemic levels this year.
The crime-ridden city is in the grip of a homelessness crisis, with businesses fleeing and residents leaving.
According to the San Francisco Travel Association, visitor numbers fell from 26 million in 2019 to 10 million in 2020 and are expected to hit 24 million this year.
Hotels are also cashing in on the cooler weather, promising guests they can escape the sweltering heat and find respite elsewhere.
Alex Bastian, president of the San Francisco Hotel Association, posted a map on Facebook showing the heatwaves across the US.
He wrote: “If you want to escape the scorching heat, come to San Francisco. We have some of the best hotels in the world and free air conditioning.”
Hotel Zelos will launch a “Beat the San Francisco Heat” campaign in 2023, while Hotel Castro will reportedly run a “Cool Off in the Castro” promotion this year in response to a “significant increase” in guests looking to escape the sweltering heat.
The city is known for the fog generated by cool ocean breezes and warm ground, which keeps temperatures low.
Hospitality workers hope the campaign will help boost tourism numbers after the city has been caught in a cycle of catastrophe in recent years.
Earlier this month, the desolate reality of San Francisco’s hollowed-out city center was revealed by footage showing an entire shopping block with every store closed and empty.
Lloyd Chapman of the American Federation of Small Businesses visited the Union Square area, the heart of the city’s once-thriving commercial district.
This prime location was once home to stores such as Uniqlo, H&M, Rasputin Records and Lush, but they have all disappeared in a city centre plagued by crime, drugs and homelessness.
