Delta Tourism

Outcome Performance Measure 5.8, Last updated: August 22, 2023 | About this Measure
Tourism is an important driver of the Delta's economy.

The Measure

Recreation and tourism trends in the Delta increase.

  • Expectations

    Delta recreation and tourism increases. 

  • Performance Metrics

    • Acres of State and federal land accessible to the public for recreation and tourism
    • Length (in linear feet) of shoreline accessible for public recreation*
    • Number of fishing licenses bought per year by county
    • Number of first-time visitors*
    • Number of off-season visitors*
    • Number of website views and social media traffic
    • Number of existing and new visitor engagement*

    *data currently unavailable, will be reported when available.

Publicly Accessible Land in the Delta

See where and how much open access land there is in the Delta and Suisun Marsh.

Public Access Areas in the Delta

58,274 Acres

As of 2020, there were 58,274 acres of land in the Legal Delta and Suisun Marsh accessible to the public.

 

Number of Fishing Licenses Sold by County

Click a county to see how many licenses were sold

Next Data Update: The California Public Area Database will be evaluated in October 2023. If new accessible public lands in the Delta are recorded in the database at that time this metric will be updated. The next anticipated update for fish licenses is in 2023.

Website Traffic: Visit CA Delta

Visit CA Delta is a resource for tourists in the Delta. It includes information on amenities, restaurants, lodging, events, and more for anyone interested in visiting the Delta region.  This metric tracks page views.  Page views are the number of times any users views any page within a website. The Year 2018 serves as the baseline for this metric.

Next Data Update: The data on web traffic is available at the beginning of every year. The next anticipated data update is in 2023.

Social Media Traffic: Facebook

The Visit CA Delta Facebook page is a resource to learn about events and opportunities for tourists coming to the Delta. Traffic is measured via "Likes." Users who have "liked" the Visit CA Delta Facebook page have opted-in to receive updates from the page. Engagement measures any action taken on the page by a user such as liking a post, sharing a post, or commenting on a post.  The Year 2018 serves as the baseline for these metrics.

Next Data Update: The data on Facebook traffic is available at the beginning of every year. The next anticipated data update is in 2023.

Social Media Traffic: Twitter

The Visit CA Delta Twitter account promotes tourism in the Delta. Traffic is measured via new followers and impressions. Followers are Twitter users who have chosen to receive tweets from the Visit CA Delta Twitter page into their Twitter feed. Impressions are a count of twitter users who have seen tweets from the Visit CA Delta Twitter account. The year 2018 serves as the baseline for these metrics.

Next Data Update: The data on Twitter traffic is available at the beginning of every year. The next anticipated data update is in 2023.

Seasonality of Tourists in the Delta

Percent of tourists visiting the Delta during different seasons according to a 2019 Delta tourism survey funded by the Delta Protection Commission. Fall and Winter are considered the off-seasons for tourism in the Delta. Summer is defined as June, July, August. Spring is defined as March, April, May. Fall is defined as September, October, November. Winter is defined as December, January, February. The survey has 857 respondents to this question.

Next Data Update: There is no scheduled update for a new recreation survey, however, the survey supported a 5 year update to the Delta Economic Sustainability Plan.  So a new survey may occur to support an update in 2025.

The Delta is a world-class tourism destination and investment in Delta communities will bring changes that enrich agriculture, support services, recreation quality, and the Delta economy. Many recreation and tourism opportunities are already present, and many additional ones have not been fully developed due to inadequate visitor information, aging/inadequate facilities, and restricted access to public lands.

The Delta Conservancy, in collaboration with the Delta Protection Commission and the Delta Marketing Task Force, prepared a Delta Tourism Awareness Five-Year Marketing Plan in 2017. The Marketing Plan is a tool for the Delta community to develop and implement creative strategies to attract visitors, articulate key metrics for success, strengthen Delta branding, and build a Delta-centric tourism website (www.visitdelta.com).

This performance measure will assist decision-making related to protecting and enhancing recreational and tourism resources in the Delta.

Each chapter of the Delta plan includes strategies to achieve the goals of the plan. These strategies are general guidance on achieving the objective laid out in the plan and in the Delta Reform Act of 2009. Associated with these strategies are recommendations. The recommendations describe more specific and implementable actions to support the achievement of Delta Plan strategies. Strategies may also have associated performance measures. Delta Plan performance measures track progress in achieving desired outcomes for the Delta Plan. Below are the strategies and recommendations associated with this performance measure. 

Delta Plan Strategy
  • Encourage Recreation and Tourism
Delta Plan Recommendations
  • Provide New and Protect Existing Recreation Opportunities
  • Encourage Partnerships to Support Recreation and Tourism
  • Expand State Recreation Areas
  • Enhance Nature-based Recreation
  • Promote Boating Safety
  • Encourage Recreation on Public Lands
  • Enhance Opportunities for Visitor-serving Businesses
  • Provide Public Access on Appropriately-located Delta Levees
Metric

Evaluated annually:

•          Acres of State and federal land accessible to the public for recreation and tourism

•          Length (in linear feet) of shoreline accessible for public recreation

•          Number of fishing licenses bought per year by county

•          Number of first-time visitors

•          Number of off-season visitors

•          Number of website views and social media traffic

•          Number of existing and new visitor engagement

Baseline

Measured as of July 2018.

Target

Increase of five percent, for each metric from the prior year, over a five-year period beginning once a baseline is established in 2018.

Data on acres of state and federal land accessible for public recreation is gather from The California Protected Areas Database. The statewide data set is clipped to the delta using ESRI software.  Then acres are are calculated.

Data for web traffic and social media traffic are provided by the Delta Protection Commission. Web traffic is provided by google analytics.  Facebook and Twitter data are provided by the platforms.

Council staff collect data on public lands available for recreation and fishing license sales from CDFW's License Statistics webpage.

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