Governor Newsom Slammed for Bragging About Tourism As State Crises Loom

After making a post on X celebrating record California tourism, he was bombarded with pushback from residents bringing up the recent influx of migrants into the state and other problems that have also been setting records.

“We couldn’t be more proud to announce today record-breaking tourism numbers in the state of California, over $150 billion on tourism spent, unprecedented in our state’s history,” Newsom said with the full view of the bridge below him.

“From our world-renowned coastline, to the world’s tallest trees, to our iconic cities and theme parks, California is the nation’s coming attraction. Visitors from all over the world are coming here to experience the wonder of the Golden State, boosting our economy and creating good-paying jobs for years to come,” Newsom said.

“Newsom touts a record-breaking $150.4 billion in tourism spending for 2023, supposedly surpassing the pre-pandemic figure of $144.9 billion in 2019. However, when adjusted for inflation, tourism spending would have to be a staggering $173 billion to beat the 2019 number,” Jones said.

“Hate to break it to you Gavin, but all those illegal aliens sneaking into California right now aren’t tourists!” one X user wrote.

“Other things are hitting all time highs,” one user wrote while also posting a picture of a Menlo Park Chevron gas station that showed the regular price of gas as $7.09 per gallon. Chevron made viral rounds on social media after a post showed a price spike of $7.29 per gallon.

“@GavinNewsom  is so proud of California tourism. Be sure to stop and visit beautiful Los Angeles,” wrote another user as they posted a video of homeless encampments and fires burning on the street.

“i would think california tourism would go something like this 1) omg i’ve heard california is so amazing let’s go 2) oh wow actually this place is stupidly expensive and seems to be run by incompetent idiots and there’s so many bums in every major city what an overrated dump,” said an X user.

The LAO estimates that prices have grown about 20% since 2020, a number which is based on the consumer price index. The report also found that inflation is slowing down, but prices in California have still been rising more than the country on average.

To make his point, he posted an Axios data map that shows California leading the US in the percentage of unsheltered homeless people. In March, the Los Angeles Times reported that nearly half of San Francisco drug users in the city are visitors not native to the area.

Debate rages over the causes of California having so many unhoused people, with some blaming the affordability of housing, while others looking at the influx of migrants into the state taking up space in shelters.

Recently, chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors in San Diego County Nora Vargas said that 80,000 migrants have arrived through San Diego County alone since May 2023.