Don’t know about you, but this article really surprised me. There are a lot of reasons to come to San Diego, but it never occurred to me that beer would be the biggest.
Matt Johnson, head brewer at Karl Strauss Brewing Co., tastes one of the beers he's perfecting. — Earnie Grafton
Forget the zoo, SeaWorld and beaches galore. San Diego's allure, at least for tourists, is all about the beer, so says The New York Times.
In a list of 45 places to visit this year, published in Sunday's Travel section, San Diego ranked 14th and was one of just four U.S. destinations that merited a mention.
But rather than tout the area's more obvious tourist draws, the newspaper zeroed in on the county's mushrooming craft beer industry, dubbing the region "a sunny heaven for suds lovers."
"Even in times of tight budgets, finely crafted beer remains a relatively approachable luxury, and few American regions have more brewing momentum than San Diego County," states the article. "Maybe it’s time, then, to think about building a beer safari in the land of sunshine, fish tacos and hopped-up American IPAs."
Chris Cramer, co-founder of Karl Strauss Brewing Co., says the article is a perfect example of how the city's investment in the annual San Diego Beer Week is paying off. The San Diego Brewers Guild last year secured nearly $75,000 in funding from the city's Tourism Marketing District to promote the annual event.
The money comes from a 2 percent surcharge levied on hotel rooms throughout the city.
"That’s the type of travel press you simply can’t buy," Cramer said, "and exactly what our San Diego Brewers Guild has been working to accomplish with the use of our (marketing) funding to promote San Diego Beer Week."
The Brewers Guild estimates that Beer Week, held in November, generated roughly 2,500 hotel room nights.
San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau chief Joe Terzi says he doesn't take it personally that the only attraction cited by The New York Times was craft beer. Any mention of San Diego that can potentially boost tourism is always welcome, he said.
"We work hard to promote San Diego in a lot of different ways, and one thing that’s been unique has been the growth of craft beer," Terzi said. "I don’t care whether they mention beer or wine or food. Someone who likes craft beer will read this and decide it’s worth visiting San Diego not just to visit the zoo."
Read more http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jan/09/coming-to-san-diego-think-beer/
