SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Total direct travel spending in California was $96.7 billion in 2007. Spending on travel increased by 3.6 percent over the preceding year.
(b) During 2007, travel spending in California directly supported 924,100 jobs with total earnings of $30 billion.
(c) The travel industry generated the greatest number of jobs in arts, entertainment, and recreation, 226,500 jobs, and accommodation and food services, 534,000.
(d) Travel spending in 2007 generated $2.2 billion in local taxes and $3.6 billion in state taxes.
(e) Expenditures on food and beverages constituted 24 percent of the total spending made by visitors to California.
(f) Tourism within California is not only concentrated in urban areas; tourism in rural areas within the state accounts for 357,400 jobs, 39 percent of total tourism industry employment, $27 billion in travel spending, 31 percent of total tax receipts, and $1.6 billion in state and local taxes.
(g) The travel industry employs 894,000 Californians, the fourth largest employer in the state.
(h) On average, each county in California earns $1.3 billion from travel expenditures annually.
(i) In 2007, over 17 percent of all travel spending in the state was attributable to international travelers. Overseas arrivals in Los Angeles and San Francisco increased by 7.5 percent, or 3,600,000 arrivals, from 2006 to 2007.
(j) Of California’s approximately 14,000,000 international visitors, about 5,200,000 were from outside North America, equaling 21.7 percent of all international visitors in 2007, an increase of 12.4 percent from 2006.
(k) These visitors reported spending $111 per person per day, staying an average of 10.5 nights in California. Thus, each visitor to California spent an average of $1,166 within our state.