The investment supports San Diego’s continued competitiveness as a premier travel destination at a time when destinations near and far are competing aggressively for visitor spending and overnight stays.
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In an uncertain economic environment, SDTMD makes a significant investment to drive an estimated 6.8 million hotel room nights.
SAN DIEGO (July 7, 2025) — The San Diego Tourism Marketing District (SDTMD) has allocated $50.47 million in funding for tourism marketing in its 2026 fiscal year, which began July 1. The funds are distributed through grants awarded in a competitive process to applicants supporting programs and events expected to drive 6.8 million stays at SDTMD hotels in the City of San Diego.
“SDTMD is looking at FY2026 with a sense of ambition. In the face of potential industry headwinds, we’re ensuring ongoing and consistent investments in the health of our TMD hotels,” said SDTMD Board Chair Richard Bartell. “The City of San Diego will once again host a vibrant lineup of beloved returning events, as well as new experiences, to welcome visitors and provide more opportunities to explore our rich culture and unmatched hospitality.”
The SDTMD is self-funded through an assessment on room nights paid by visitors in City of San Diego hotels with 70 rooms or more. The proceeds are designated for tourism marketing to help increase overnight hotel stays. As a result of this investment, overnight visitors generate transient occupancy tax, or TOT, which helps fund city services, and tourism supports thousands of direct jobs while attracting billions in visitor spending to the city.
SDTMD tourism marketing grants for the fiscal year that just ended June 30 totaled $50.9 million. In recent years, every SDTMD dollar invested in tourism marketing has generated a return of $31 to $34 in hotel room night revenue and helped maintain San Diego’s position as a top travel destination secure.
The 2026 financial year grants include:
SDTMD supports tourism opportunities during traditionally slower travel periods with its grant funding. This practice helps to sustain steady year-round tourism. A full list of FY2026 grant recipients can be found at www.sdtmd.org/sdtmd-grant-recipients/.
Collectively, SDTMD’s grants are projected to drive more than 6.8 million room nights (up from a projected 5.9 million last year) to generate more than $1.47 billion in room night revenue, in addition to more than $155 million in TOT for the city. For more information, visit www.sdtmd.org.
Event organizers around the City of San Diego are encouraged to prepare and submit grant requests in November 2025 when the SDTMD issues its next call for applications for FY2027. Learn more at www.sdtmd.org/applications.
About San Diego Tourism Marketing District
The San Diego Tourism Marketing District (SDTMD) is a nonprofit, mutual-benefit corporation dedicated to improving lodging room night consumption in the City of San Diego. SDTMD provides a private, nonprofit funding vehicle to stimulate City of San Diego lodging room demand through tourism promotion, marketing and advertising programs. The judicious allocation of these resources creates a positive economic, fiscal and employment impact on lodging businesses in the City of San Diego. For more information, please visit: www.sdtmd.org.
From the sun-soaked beaches to the roar of excited crowds, San Diego has made a name for itself in the rapidly growing world of sports tourism. As the echoes of the 2024 Paris Olympics fade, our City is stepping up to the plate, serving aces and scoring goals right in its own backyard.
Let’s dive into the thrilling world of sports tourism to discover how it’s not just changing the game for San Diego, but revolutionizing our entire tourism landscape.
Why Sports Help San Diego Tourism
SDTMD has funded sporting events throughout San Diego since its inception. Why it’s important:
Sports San Diego
Sports San Diego’s purpose is to drive visitor demand to economically benefit San Diego though recruiting, supporting and hosting world-class sports events.
It also serves as the region’s sports commission, the primary organization responsible for marketing San Diego as a sports destination and working with venues, hotels and event organizers to bring new sporting events to San Diego. It’s projected to drive an ROI of 15.8:1 based on hotel room night stays.
Sports San Diego operates four annual tourism-driving sporting events:
Sports San Diego also works with event promoters and National/International Governing Bodies to bring in new events each year to the destination to drive economic impact and hotel room nights. Some of the events in FY2025 included:
Additional Renowned Sporting Events:
The SDTMD also funds many other sporting events throughout the year that help diversify the tourist demographic and bring people from around the world to our beautiful city. These include:
Check out the full list of grant recipients HERE.
The Future of Sports Tourism in San Diego:
As we look ahead, the future of sports tourism in San Diego is bright. With continued support from organizations like the San Diego Tourism Marketing District (SDTMD) and Sports San Diego, we’re poised to attract even more world-class events. From the possibility of hosting Olympic trials to expanding our repertoire of international matches, San Diego is setting its sights on becoming a premier global sports destination.
One way to get event funding in San Diego is with a tourism marketing grant from the San Diego Tourism Marketing District.
Every year, the SDTMD collects an assessment on each hotel room night at its member hotels creating a pool of funds for marketing events or supporting programs throughout the year that bring more overnight visitors to stay in district hotels.
Events and programs that the SDTMD has funded in the current fiscal year include sporting events like the national amateur tennis championships or the San Diego Crew Classic as well as cultural events like the San Diego Bay Food + Wine Festival. Yours could be next!
In this article, you’ll find great tips to help you secure event funding in San Diego:
Let’s dive in:
How to Get Event Funding in San Diego: Checklist
Think your event might be a suitable candidate? Great! Here’s a checklist for securing event funding in San Diego with a SDTMD grant:
Next Step: Submit an Application to Get Event Funding
The SDTMD awards grant funding each year to applicants who can demonstrate the ability to generate incremental room night stays at TMD assessed hotels and a measurable return on investment (ROI) on TMD dollars. The typical time like looks like this:
The San Diego Tourism Marketing District will begin accepting applications for Fiscal Year 2025 funding beginning October 6, 2024 via our online submission system.
Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, November 15, 2024. Applications received after the deadline will not be accepted for annual funding requests.
Click here to learn more and start your application.
Helpful Funding Application Tips: Attend an Application Workshop
SDTMD strongly recommends that all applicants attend one of its workshops prior to completing the application. What you’ll get:
Two virtual workshops will be held on September 25th and October 16th from 2-3:30pm. Register in advance for the Zoom meetings by clicking the links above.
Please contact Executive Director Colleen Anderson with any initial questions.
Why Should You Get Your Event Funded?
Hotels with 70 rooms or more within the City of San Diego are assessed a two percent fee on each room night. SDTMD uses these dollars to support the marketing and promotional efforts of a variety of programs, services and special events that help increase room night sales. How does this help?
It helps the local San Diego economy
Aside from San Diego’s great weather, food, people and culture, having your event in the city helps the local economy.
San Diego’s economy depends on tourism. It helps create thousands of jobs for our residents, billions in economic activity for our businesses, and millions in hotel taxes for the city. Visitor spending supports jobs for residents and results in important tax revenues for the City to support services that make San Diego such a great place to live, work and visit.
Having fun and diverse events creates a buzz that brings more out of town visitors to the City.
Moreover, guests who stay multiple nights in San Diego create a ripple effect with their dollars spent, impacting not only lodging businesses, but multiple other commercial entities, including restaurants, entertainment, transportation and shopping retailers.
This also includes public safety, road repair and other City services that are funded through taxes collected by the City on hotel room nights.
For more details on application guidelines, types and supplemental funding information, visit our application page.
Learn more about the San Diego Tourism Marketing District here.
The San Diego Tourism Marketing District (SDTMD) has allocated $50.9 million in funding for marketing programs and events for fiscal year 2025, which began July 1, to drive overnight visitors to the City of San Diego and increase local hotel occupancy. This year’s tourism marketing grants are the second largest in the organization’s history, after a record $52.5 million was made available last year.
“As we kick off FY2025, we’re excited to build upon the record investment made in FY2024 as we continue building and nurturing a roster of engaging events that attract more out-of-town visitors who fill more hotel rooms,” said SDTMD Board Chair Richard Bartell. “It’s good to be back on solid ground as we look ahead to another strong year for America’s Finest City.”
This year’s funding is the result of the tourism industry’s steady performance in the City of San Diego over the past year.
The SDTMD is self-funded through an assessment on room nights in City of San Diego hotels with 70 rooms or more. The proceeds are designated for tourism marketing to help increase overnight hotel stays. Overnight visitors generate transient occupancy tax, or TOT, which helps fund city services, and tourism supports thousands of direct jobs while attracting billions in visitor spending to the city.
In its 2023 financial year, SDTMD awarded $40 million in marketing grants that delivered a return on investment of $32.40 in hotel room night revenue from every $1 of grant funding invested.
The 2025 financial year grants include:
SDTMD targets opportunities scheduled for traditionally slower travel periods for its funding. This helps to sustain steady year-round tourism. The organization also looks for programs and events that drive tourism across the city and/or give back to the local community.
Examples of funded events featuring community programs include the San Diego Bay Food + Wine Festival’s partnership to support hospitality, culinary and enology arts scholarships and the San Diego Crew Classic Freedom Rows event that helps military veterans recovering from injuries, emotional trauma and PTSD.
Collectively, the SDTMD’s grants are projected to drive more than 5.8 million room nights to generate more than $1.5 billion in room night revenue in addition to $160 million in TOT for the city. For more information, visit www.sdtmd.org.
Event organizers around the City of San Diego are encouraged to prepare and submit grant requests in November 2024 when the SDTMD issues its next call for applications for FY26. Learn more at www.sdtmd.org/applications.
About San Diego Tourism Marketing District
The San Diego Tourism Marketing District (SDTMD) is a nonprofit, mutual-benefit corporation dedicated to improving lodging room night consumption in the City of San Diego. SDTMD provides a private, nonprofit funding vehicle to stimulate City of San Diego lodging room demand through tourism promotion, marketing and advertising programs. The judicious allocation of these resources creates a positive economic, fiscal and employment impact on lodging businesses in the City of San Diego. For more information, please visit: www.sdtmd.org