San Francisco is lagging behind other major metropolitan areas in the economic recovery from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to the latest report from the Office of the City Controller.

Office workers are returning to their desks in other cities, but it remains unclear how many actually live, work and spend in San Francisco.

While Austin, Texas has an office visit rate of up to 60%, Greater San Francisco is stuck at around 30%, according to the report.

Tourists also seem reluctant to book trips to San Francisco.

With the arrival of the corona virus in 2020, almost all airports came to a standstill. Air travel has since picked up slowly across the country, but some cities have grown faster than others.

In October, the airports in Phoenix and Denver had almost returned to pre-pandemic passenger numbers for domestic travel, according to the report from the City Controller’s office. Seattle and Los Angeles had reached about 80%. In contrast, San Francisco only reached 60% of its pre-pandemic passengers on routes within the United States.

If you look at hotels, the story is similar.

Before the pandemic, San Francisco typically had around 80% of its hotel rooms occupied. In December only about 40% of the rooms were occupied. That’s actually less than the pandemic-era peak of 50% in late July. At this point, vaccines were widespread and the threat from Delta or other variants had not yet fully emerged.

Travelers collect their luggage on December 30th at the Palace Hotel’s valet parking line. Hotel occupancy is around 40% in December, up from a peak of 50% in the pandemic era at the end of July 2021. (Craig Lee / Der Prüfer)

As a side perk: the average hotel room in San Francisco prior to the pandemic was over $ 300 a night, but visitors could snap up a booking for around $ 175 around the Thanksgiving holiday.

The report found that other major cities are recovering both their rates and occupancy rates much faster. Phoenix and San Diego are making roughly as much per hotel room per night as they did before the pandemic.

All in all, these numbers suggest that downtown San Francisco businesses continue to struggle without guaranteed demand from tourists and commuters.

It is possible that many of the people who stayed have just shifted their spending from downtown to their local trade corridors. While the Controllers report leaves out the spending patterns by neighborhood, it suggests that San Francisco residents have not returned to the same level of economic activity as they did before the pandemic within the city limits.

One of the best proxies for this concept is the time people spend outside of their home. When people are out and about in their neighborhood, they spend money in local shops, use public transport, and generally participate productively in civic life. If they stay indoors, much of this economic activity will be lost or instead diverted to online retailers, many of whom are not on-site.

Compared to January 2020, San Francisco residents still spend 15% less, while that number is closer to 5% nationwide. Importantly, however, the San Franciscans reduced their absence from home by nearly 40% in March 2020, while the state average fell closer to 25%. In other words, San Francisco residents have been more cautious about accommodation from the start.

The median monthly rental price for an apartment in San Francisco prior to the pandemic was around $ 2,750. It hit its lowest price of $ 2,000 in January 2021, but began to grow steadily through the first half of the year. This progress has stalled; The average monthly asking rent for an apartment was $ 2,250 in November, according to the report.

Small businesses remain constrained. Local traders’ confidence that a recovery is inevitable remains below the national average and new store openings have stagnated.

More than 220 stores – classified as Retail and Commerce, Neighborhood Services, or Restaurants and Bars – opened in San Francisco in January 2019. By comparison, that number dropped to around 130 in November 2021.

If you look at the speeds on the motorway, the City Controller’s report comes to the conclusion that more people are driving. Decreasing vehicle speeds indicate more traffic jams on the roads. The latest numbers from November show an average speed that is below the pre-COVID average.

Traffic jams on Highway 101 near downtown San Francisco in August. The latest data shows a decrease in vehicle speeds along the highways in and out of the city, with average speeds below pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels. (Kevin N. Hume / The Examiner)

However, this may not indicate that more people are on the move, but that they have shifted their mobility from local public transport to private transport. The number of people exiting BART trains at Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell and Civic Centers has seen weak growth in recent months, hitting just over 20% of the pre-pandemic passenger numbers, according to the report.

Most of the data in the report comes from before the advent of the Omicron variant, which arrives inconveniently in the middle of another Christmas season. The recent surge has already resulted in changes to public health protocols, including temporary mask returns and the urging of many companies to require full empowerment of customers.

Omicron is also impacting major events, including the cancellation of the San Francisco fireworks display, changing the advice of public health professionals on attending major events, and staffing shortages in companies already struggling to survive.

cgraf@sfexaminer.com

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The rules allow access to leisure activities within the framework of the guidelines prescribed by the respective health officer of the individual districts in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

One of the most significant changes came at Mount Diablo State Park, where a contingent of vehicles was ordered for the first time as part of the reopening.

The majority of the Bay Area locations that will remain closed are in the state-administered Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including parking areas in San Francisco, Alcatraz Island, and staging areas in the Marin Headlands. Other significant closings remain at all state park campsites and major recreational lakes, including the entire Los Vaqueros watershed, as well as boating and fishing at the San Pablo, Lafayette, and Del Valle Reservoirs.

Here’s the latest on what’s open and closed in the Bay Area:

Outdoors by Tom Stienstra

San Francisco

The GGNRA opened parking lots at both Baker Beach and China Beach.

The Oceanic Society, which emphasizes social distancing, will take its first whale watching tour of the season from Marina Green Harbor on Saturday.

Party boat trips started from Fisherman’s Wharf with trips out into the bay for halibut, striped bass, and rockfish, and to the Golden Gate for salmon. On Tuesday, Capt. Erik Anfinson of the Bass Tub took 12 anglers out into the bay and reported that they caught seven halibut (and released four), five striped bass (and two released), 22 cod (and 15 released), 86 rockfish (and 17 released ), plus six vermilions and a seaweed greenling.

Marin

After Point Reyes National Seashore closed in late March, it opened most of the main rest stops to access the park’s 71,000 acres: Bear Valley, Sky Trail, Limantour Beach, Drakes Estero, Drakes Beach, Abbotts Lagoon, Pierce Ranch, and Five Brooks. The kayak launch site for Drake’s Estero, which is in close proximity to Sir Francis Drake, has also opened. Major areas that are still closed include Point Reyes Lighthouse, Chimney Rock Headlands, Palomarin Trailhead, Mount Vision, and South Beach, and all visitor centers.

The Marin Municipal Water District opened its water catchment areas to parking. These include the staging areas and trailheads along Bolinas-Fairfax Road to Cataract Falls, Carson Falls and Lagunitas Creek on Kent Pump Road. Access to the trails has also been reopened by Sky Oaks for Lakes Lagunitas and Bon Tempe, as well as North Nicasio, Soulajule and Stafford counties.

Marin County Parks has reopened Agate Beach in Bolinas, Whitehouse Pool on Lower Lagunitas Creek, Chicken Ranch Beach on the southwest end of Tomales Bay, Miller Boat Launch on the northeast end of Tomales Bay, and Paradise Beach in Tiburon.

Fishing with party boats was also resumed from Sausalito.

South peninsula

At Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, the boat ramp opened and party boat fishing finally started. The Huli Cat ventured on her first excursion Tuesday with eight anglers on board, said Captain Tom Mattusch, who reported she was caught with 80 dungeness crabs (10 per person limits) and 75 rockfish (five out of 10 fish limits for everyone on board ) had returned).

Half Moon Bay State Beach has reopened with limited parking and access to beaches and the 6-mile Coastside Trail. This contributed to beach openings last weekend, including Montara State Beach (in the Martini Creek parking lot), Mavericks Beach at Pillar Point, Francis, Venice, and Poplar Beaches in Half Moon Bay and south of Half Moon Bay the beaches at Cowell Ranch in San Gregorio, Pescadero and Bean Hollow. All offer limited parking and no on-street parking when available spaces are full, state park officials said.

In the remote regions of South Bay, the Big Basin Redwoods near Boulder Creek and Henry W. Coe State Parks reopened. In Henry Coe, ready-to-use parking areas have been opened at both the headquarters east of Morgan Hill and the Hunting Hollow car park east of Gilroy.

East bay

At Mount Diablo State Park, the reopening with a contingent of vehicle access is a major turning point for the hundreds of road cyclists who ride to the summit every day.

In the East Bay Regional Park District, both Alameda and Contra Costa County’s sheriffs ordered a 8:00 p.m. curfew this week “until further notice” in all parks. Access is available at approximately 50 parks and major catchment areas, including the Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline, Bort Meadow for Anthony Chabot, Garin, Las Trampas, Mission Peak, Morgan Territory, Sunol, and Round Valley.

East Bay Parks also introduced new rules this week that require dogs to be kept on a leash at all times.

Tom Stienstra is the outdoor writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @StienstraTom

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