Like a Phoenix, Hotel Industry Rises Above October Wildfires

As investigators scramble to put a dollar figure on the damage wrought by wildfires that broke out in the county during the week of Oct. 21, analysts are also busy assessing the loss to businesses and the local economy.

Estimates vary, but speculation has it that tourism, which generates nearly $8 billion in direct annual spending and is the county’s third largest industry behind manufacturing and defense, may be among the hardest hit if would-be visitors hold onto the scorched earth image projected in the media before the last fire was quelled early this month.

For now at least, local inns are experiencing a boon in business. Occupancy rates stood at 72.6 percent for the week ended Nov. 3, putting San Diego in fourth place behind New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco, in that order, according to Smith Travel Research. Las Vegas does not participate in the Tennessee-based researcher’s nationwide surveys.

For the week ended Nov. 10, the most recent report available from Smith Travel, occupancy at the county’s hotels increased to 86.4 percent, resulting in a second-place ranking behind New York City.

It was a confluence of events, sources say.

While there was no count taken of the number of individuals and families who took shelter in local hotels, it was reported that more than 250,000 people fled their homes, and some who have not found more permanent quarters, such as apartments, after the destruction of their homes, are still staying in hotels.

More than 1,300 homes were destroyed by the wildfires, according to the San Diego Institute for Policy Research, a private, nonprofit research agency.

Visitors Fill Up Rooms

Meanwhile, there has also been an influx of insurance adjusters, relief workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross, says Sal Giametta, spokesman for the San Diego Convention