As a nod to Thanksgiving, SANDAG’s chief economist recently analyzed national and regional statistics to give residents some perspective on the holiday and its economic impact on San Diego County.
“From time to time, it’s important to step back to get a clear view on how events and holidays affect our region,” said Ray Major. “I think many people will be surprised to see how holiday-related spending and tourism affect our local economy.”
Here are some interesting facts regarding Thanksgiving and holiday-related tourism:
Some 88 percent of county households celebrated Thanksgiving. Some 428,000 turkeys were consumed in the county, with a totl of $15 million spent on dinner. The average amount spent on home-cooked meals per resident was $5.18.
San Diego County residents consumed about 13 billion calories over the holiday – in order to burn off those calories, we’d have to run to the moon and back 241 times.
About 91 percent of holiday visitors to the county came by car. That translates to an additional 366,000 cars traveling here, averaging 245 miles. Auto-bound visitors logged 90 million miles getting here. That’s 3,600 times around the world.
San Diego County residents were said to spend $553 million on Black Friday shopping, or $163 per county resident