San Francisco Pride boosts tourism in the Castro District – SFGATE
As it had been for years, Pride was a boon for local tourism by bringing travelers both international and domestic to San Francisco.
Data provided by the San Francisco Travel Association illustrates how the Pride weekend filled hotel rooms year after year. From 2016 to 2019, the Saturday night lodging occupancy rate for rooms across the city shot to more than 90% each summer.
The cancellation of in-person celebrations during the pandemic led to sharp decline in tourism, but as the festivities ramp up this year in the first in-person Pride since 2019, business and lodging in the Castro is approaching normal numbers.
“Last year, people were booking and canceling. But this year, the confidence and excitement is back,” said Brittney Beck, the owner of Beck’s Motor Lodge. “We only have 58 rooms and they were booked quickly. It feels more like pre-pandemic years.”
In anticipation of the influx of visitors, businesses in the Castro collaborated with the city in recent weeks for the first-ever pre-Pride clean-up, where trash was picked up, light posts were painted and traffic signals were checked.
Dave Karraker, co-president of the Castro Merchants Association, told SFGATE this year’s Pride is gaining extra fervor considering certain recent events. He pointed to a drag queen event being disrupted at a library in San Leandro and a thwarted attack on Pride from extremists in Boise as motivation for more folks flocking to these events.
“There will be people who want to get together and be loud and proud,” he said. “Anytime you see these kind of threats in the gay community, you see voices rise up and come together.”
Beck’s Motor Lodge, 2222 Market St.
Blair Heagerty/SFGATE
Lodging across the Castro is experiencing a noticeable uptick in room bookings. Mike Curless of the Willows Inn said, “I can quantify but can’t qualify: last year we were basically empty, and this year we are two-thirds full.”
Elsewhere in the neighborhood at the Parker Guest House, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, co-owner Bill Boeddiker said the business has been swamped.
“Ever since the end of April, we’ve been pretty full and have been sold out for Pride for a couple of months,” he said. “It’s back to normal for us.”
The lodges added that they’re seeing their typical mix of international and state visitors, and Karraker said they expect a noticeable influx of people coming to the Castro from more local areas.
“What we’re hearing (anecdotally at this point) is that there will be a very large group of folks from the Bay Area,” he said. “We saw how big the crowd was with the Warriors winning the championship, we expect the same outcome.”
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