I found my heart in SAN FRANCISCO

With more infrastructure investment and new social initiatives, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about San Francisco's post-pandemic comeback

- NICOLE TRILIVAS

San Francisco was hit especially hard by the pandemic, and the media was quick to take note: the existing homelessness crisis was exacerbated by occupancy limits in shelters, new fears and anxieties threw the drug epidemic into overdrive, and remote working led people to search for more space and more affordable accommodation in the surrounding Bay Area suburbs. Reports touted the end of this once-great city so you can understand my initial trepidation about returning on my first postpandemic trip to the city in June. I expected to see a city ravaged, but over the course of a warm, bright week, the city told me a different story, one that’s surprisingly uplifting. Despite what you may have heard, San Francisco is still a boom town and it may just end up bouncing back stronger than before.

SHOWING RESILIENCE

I arrived to find the streets of the Embarcadero packed with people waiting for ferries to Sausalito, shopping for ripe summer berries at the farmers’ market in front of the Ferry Building, and jogging along the postcard-perfect waterfront. Tourists have returned too: couples pose for pictures in front of the glittery Bay Bridge and families descend en masse on Pier 39 in Fisherman’s Wharf.

San Francisco has always been one of America’s top tourism destinations: in pre-pandemic 2019, the San Francisco Travel Association recorded an all-time high of 26.2 million visitors. Numbers are expected to hit 21.9 million visitors this year, up from 14.8 million visitors in 2021, with business travellers accounting for some 30 per cent.