Fact Check: Gavin Newsom Claims Record Tourism, but Actually It Is Down 14%

California Governor Gavin Newsom took to the top of Golden Gate Bridge to share the claim that California had hit an "unprecedented" tourism spending record. The facts? After inflation, tourism is down 14% from 2019. The false claim was shared by trusted news organizations such as CBS and the San Francisco Chronicle. In his press release with Visit California CEO Caroline Beteta, Newsom claimed tourism spending was up 5.6% in 2023 over 2022, a figure that is a 3.8% increase from peak 2019 levels. However, the Visit California report featured in the release and cited by Newsom says those figures are not adjusted for inflation, which has been approximately 19% since 2019.