SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The annual Dreamforce conference is bringing a business boom to downtown San Francisco, generating an expected $130 million in revenue for the city.
KRON4’s Sara Stinson spoke with hotel and restaurant leaders in the video player above.
People packed into the streets of downtown San Francisco Wednesday for the last night of Dreamforce.
“I was standing on the corner of 4th and mission and I just saw wave after wave of people coming down the street – felt really big and the largest,” says Marriott Marquis General Manager John Anderson.
The conference at Moscone Center is drawing in nearly 50,000 attendees from more than 150 countries. The influx of visitors is filling up nearby hotels.
“It’s a great thing to see people walking on the street again putting the space to use,” says John Eric Sanchez, owner of Executive Order Bar and Lounge.
“Most of our hotels are sold out. The economic impact to downtown S.F. is absolutely amazing,” says Anderson.
Anderson, who is also the Board Chair of San Francisco Travel, says that the city so far has proved to be a great host for a massive event like this.
“You look around the streets here there are beat officers, there are ambassadors from the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, welcome ambassadors with SF Travel. There’s a lot of presence on the streets – the job they are doing is greeting people and asking how they are enjoying San Francisco.”
Crowds flocked into bars and restaurants like Executive Order.
“For us it’s a glimmer of hope at the possibility of what San Francisco can return to being,” says Sanchez who opened the bar and lounge in 2018. “I’ve struggled to stay here since then – hoping for better days.”
Sanchez says while it hasn’t been easy, conferences like Dreamforce provide much needed work for all downtown businesses. But without a conference, Sanchez says its still a struggle to get downtown workers to stop by his business.
“Kind of the forgotten people of San Francisco finally have the opportunity to make a living for themselves,” said Sanchez. “In the last six months, we have had to do a lot of internal programming to drive people to come out here. Weekends are a challenge for us and even week nights. It seems like the economy is not quite fully recovered locally and globally.”
Thousands attended Dreamfest at Chase Center Wednesday night, a benefit concert for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. Metallica and Benson Boone performed. Thursday is the final day of the conference.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
