The outlook for the hospitality industry in Santa Barbara is positive, despite a downturn in international visitors.
"International visitation is important to Santa Barbara, but it is a smaller percentage of our business mix and represents about 15% of the total number of visitors," said Kathy Janega-Dyke, CEO of Visit Santa Barbara.
During their annual meeting on Wednesday, she said that despite a flat start, there’s cause for optimism, especially with a summer of sport.
"We're forecasting another strong summer tourism season," she told KCLU. "We're trying to leverage the World Cup as much as possible, and we're very fortunate because we are hosting two FIFA teams for a training basis. One is the Austrian team, and one is the Qatar team."
