Sept. 24, 2015 – The San Francisco Travel Association has launched nine websites in languages reflecting the city's top international markets.  San Francisco received four million international visitors in 2014, representing 23% of the city's 18.01 million visitors.  

“We are proud to provide these new resources to travelers around the world,” said San Francisco Travel President and CEO Joe D'Alessandro. “The new sites provide tools to help visitors at every stage of their planning process, from dreaming to arriving.”  

There are two websites in Chinese, hosted by Brand USA.  For traditional Chinese, the address is www.gousa.tw/sanfrancisco and www.gousa.cn/sanfrancisco, is in simplified Chinese.

The Chinese sites include a wide variety of information to help visitors enjoy San Francisco.  Topics include:

• Fascinating neighborhoods such as Fisherman's Wharf, Union Square, North Beach, the Embarcadero, the Castro, Haight-Ashbury, Nob Hill, the Mission District and Chinatown

• The Golden Gate Bridge

• The historic cable cars

• Alcatraz, the famous island prison

• The Asian Art Museum

• The California Academy of Sciences

• The Ferry Building and culinary Marketplace

• Ghirardelli Square

• PIER 39's attractions, entertainment, shops and restaurants

• SFMOMA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

• Golden Gate Park

• The Golden State Warriors, part of the National Basketball Association (NBA)

• San Francisco's Chinese American heritage

• San Francisco's best Chinese restaurants

• San Francisco's best hotels

• Luxurious things to do in San Francisco

• San Francisco's best shopping

• San Francisco's best photo locations

• San Francisco's weather

• San Francisco International Airport

China became San Francisco's top overseas market in 2014 with 364,400 visitors, an increase of 22% from the previous year.  Visitation from China has grown 62% since 2012, faster than any other overseas market.  Visitor volume is expected to rise over the next few years with the continued growth of China's middle class and the recent announcement by President Obama of a 10-year visa approval for China.

 Chinese visitors generally book their trips months in advance so the yuan devaluation will probably not have an immediate impact on visitation.  Travel companies in China put together their packages even further in advance and are unlikely to adjust their prices once they are set.

Seven new websites are available in the other languages most often spoken by international visitors: 

Spanish: www.sanfrancisco.travel/es 

German: www.sanfrancisco.travel/de 

French: www.sanfrancisco.travel/fr 

Japanese: www.sanfrancisco.travel/ja

Korean: www.sanfrancisco.travel/ko 

Portuguese:  www.sanfrancisco.travel/pt 

Italian: www.sanfrancisco.travel/it  

These sites mirror San Francisco Travel's English website which was relaunched in 2014 after a complete redesign with a wealth of information and inspiration for visitors, meeting planners, travel professionals, media and San Francisco Travel partners, all in a format that is intuitive, objective and deeply curated. 

The websites use a responsive design to adapt to any screen size, from laptop to tablet to smartphone.  No matter the size of the screen, the user has access to the complete website and its functions with scrolling and swiping functionality.

Through a partnership with Booking.com, the world leader in booking accommodations online, lodging reservations can be made from the home page and throughout the site and San Francisco hotel deals are easy to find.  

San Francisco's top 20 markets outside the United States are:

• Mexico
• China
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Germany
• France
• Australia
• India
• Scandinavia 
• Japan
• Korea 
• Brazil
• Taiwan
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Switzerland
• Spain
• Ireland
• Argentina
• Israel

The San Francisco Travel Association is a private, not-for-profit organization that markets the city as a leisure, convention and business travel destination.  With some 1,500 partner businesses, San Francisco Travel is one of the largest membership-based tourism promotion agencies in the country. 

Tourism, San Francisco's largest industry, generated record-breaking numbers in 2014.  More than 18 million people visited the destination, spending in excess of $10.67 billion. More than 87,000 jobs are supported by tourism in San Francisco.

The San Francisco Travel business offices are located at One Front St., Suite 2900, San Francisco, CA 94111.  

San Francisco Travel also operates the Visitor Information Center at Hallidie Plaza, 900 Market Street at the corner of Powell and Market streets. For more information, call 415-974-6900 or visit www.sanfrancisco.travel.  

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) offers non-stop flights to more than 34 international cities on 29 international carriers. The Bay Area's largest airport connects non-stop with 78 cities in the U.S. on 15 domestic airlines. SFO is proud to offer upgraded free Wi-Fi with no advertising. For up-to-the-minute departure and arrival information, airport maps and details on shopping, dining, cultural exhibitions, ground transportation and more, visit www.flysfo.com. Follow us on www.twitter.com/flysfo and  www.facebook.com/flysfo.…

American Express® is the official Card partner of the San Francisco Travel Association

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