National tourism trends trickle down locally in Monterey County

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) --Monterey County leaders are looking to the future of tourism, with an emphasis on bringing back international visitors.

“We're actually leaning in to international travel, and we're working harder to get those travelers here,” said Rob O’Keefe, president and CEO of See Monterey.

See Monterey just released its new business plan for 2025–26, focusing on keeping the tourism economy strong. Across the U.S., international travel has dipped, but Monterey is taking steps to reverse that trend.

“We're going to have a brand new terminal building in just a couple of years. That's going to make us more attractive for people flying in from across the country and around the world. And so the challenge is getting reaching further out to fill a thousand new hotel rooms,” said O’Keefe.

According to See Monterey, the county is still working to return to pre-pandemic levels of international travel.

“International travel, pre-COVID, we had about 13% of travelers coming to Monterey County were from international markets. Study we just did last summer showed that that number was now about 7%. So we've got a lot of lost ground that we have to regain,” said O’Keefe.

In 2024, the county saw record-breaking tourism numbers.

“We were over $3.1 billion as a tourism economy. But even better than that, we had nearly 28,000 people working in the hospitality industry. That's a record,” said O’Keefe.

“We had $310 million of tax revenues from the travelers who come here. They spend a lot of money, and that money stays here in the form of taxes and revenues, which pays for our quality of life,” said O’Keefe.

Local businesses are also feeling the effects of international tourism.

“Anything that impacts the international travel negatively, we will have some form of impact as well. That's why we have to stay aggressive and we have to keep working,” said John Narigi, executive vice president of operations for Fish Hoppers.

“Business is up overall. We just came through an amazing Labor Day weekend. We saw a lot of international travelers who came and dined in the restaurant,” said Narigi.

Visitors and locals say the area’s economy clearly thrives on tourism.

“I'd say, you got visitors and international,” said Darryl Woodworth from San Diego.

“Monterey has a lot of tourists here. You know, the roads are always packed. The cafes are always packed. I think a lot of the businesses down here thrive off tourism,” said Jonny Baker from Santa Cruz.

“We're all fighting over these parking spaces because we want to be close to the water. So there's lots of tourists here today,” said Charlie Roodenburg from Auburn.

To help offset the dip in international travel, See Monterey is expanding its reach to new domestic markets.

“We're targeting now Austin, which is boosting our presence in Texas, which is an awesome market for Monterey County. And we're also targeting Chicago, which is planting a flag in the Midwest. Great growth market for us. We have to continuously reach further out to bring people here from further away,” said O’Keefe.

See Monterey is also preparing for the future with a thousand new hotel rooms expected before 2030, along with a brand-new airport terminal opening in the next couple of years to make travel easier for visitors flying in.