Monterey County’s visitor’s bureau pins its hopes on new travelers amid lagging numbers.

The entire Monterey Peninsula was drenched in sunshine on Friday, Aug. 29, a postcard perfect-day as thousands of tourists arrived for the Labor Day weekend. It was the kind of quintessential California coastal day that will play well to people in snowy or steamy weather – the very people See Monterey, the county’s convention and visitor’s bureau, are pinning their hopes on to make up for international travelers staying away this past year.

Carmel was already buzzing with visitors that day, when over 350 hospitality professionals, elected officials and others gathered for See Monterey’s annual meeting at the Sunset Cultural Center.

Janine Chicourrat, chair of the See Monterey board and manager of the Portola Hotel in Monterey, pointed to “big challenges” ahead for the industry. Recently back from a national hospitality conference, she said one takeaway was that “the decisions being made on a federal level are hurting us drastically.” Uncertainty caused by tariffs and the doubling of the price of visas for international travelers was keeping people from visiting the U.S., she said.

Before President Donald Trump took office, predictions were for continued growth in tourism, as the industry continues to recover post-pandemic. In February, predictions of 8-percent growth in 2025 flipped to a 16-percent decline nationally, according to See Monterey’s 2025-2026 business plan. California is expecting a 9.2-percent drop in international visits and flat visitor spending in the coming year.

CEO Rob O’Keefe presented a future plan focused on increasing group package bookings, as well as conferences, which are already increasing. For leisure travelers, See Monterey is looking eastward.

“We’ve got to continue to develop new markets and find those travelers, many of whom, some of them at least, may never even have heard of us before,” he said. Those new markets include Austin and Chicago – progress is being made in bringing airline service to Chicago from Monterey Regional Airport, where a new terminal is currently under construction.

See Monterey also introduced a new initiative, “Encuentra Tu Monterey,” the Spanish version of the bureau’s English tagline, “Find your way here,” citing the importance of courting the growing market of Latino travelers, including from Mexico.

Bringing in new travelers is key, especially with 1,000 new hotel rooms to fill in the next decade. The Marriott Courtyard and Residence Inn with 215 rooms is expected to open in Sand City by January. The 99-room Kimpton Mirador Hotel in Pacific Grove is targeted to open by December. Also coming is the 330-room Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seaside, yet to start construction.

The one bright spot of 2025 so far was Car Week, with over $130 million in estimated visitor spending and around 85 percent hotel occupancy over the 10-day period, with some nights up to 95 percent, Lindsey Stevens, vice president of marketing, reported in a county news briefing on Aug. 27. Although occupancy was around 85 percent last year, revenues were up by 5 percent. They estimate Car Week visitors at over 100,000.

“With revenue up and occupancy flat, we see that people understand that’s a premium time to be in Monterey County,” Stevens said.