HVS In Focus: Sonoma County California Hotel Market
As a major Northern California recreational and tourist destination, the Sonoma County hotel market is flourishing. With more available land than neighboring Napa, lower barriers to entry, and healthy demand levels, hotel supply is increasing.
Sonoma County continues to grow as a premier leisure destination, welcoming more than 7.5 million visitors in 2014. Tourism spending reached $1.6 billion in 2014, or a 2.4% increase over the previous year.1 Roughly 90% of the County's visitors are domestic; however, with an increase in tourists from Asia and Europe − and from China specifically − Sonoma County is poised to take advantage of rising international California wine-country tourism. 2 Napa Valley's reputation as a world-class wine region as depicted in popular media, has shifted China's emerging middle-class population to choose California over other destinations like France, with neighboring Sonoma County also benefitting from this increase in tourism.3 Compared to Napa, Sonoma County has a more casual character, with coastal scenery, less traffic, and access to wine tasting rooms without an appointment.