Lots on Tap for San Francisco Visitors 2012

There's always lots going on in a city like San Francisco but this year seems especially exciting. First on everyone's list is the 75th anniversary celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge. Year-long festivities and revitalization of the plaza areas on the south end are in full gear. The big party will be on Sunday, May 27 when the entire Crissy Field and nearby area (but not on the bridge itself -- no one wants a repeat of the 50th anniversary squishfest) will be transformed into a festival devoted to celebrating the famous and beloved city icon. (Click here for the SF Chronicle's really cool old bridge opening photos).
This week, San Francisco's tourism industry gathered for a day-long forum on the outlook for the city's travel industry. It turned into a bit of a celebration in itself with good news for the industry: San Francisco tourism is up and the forecast is rosy.
Some 16.35 million visitors spent the night in the city in 2011, up 3.1% from 2010. Those figures are not at the same level as the pre-recession and pre-dot-com bubble "glory days" of 1997-2000 when the city drew 16.7 million overnight visitors each year.
But it's close and no one in the room was complaining, especially since hotel occupancies are over 80% and average daily room rates are creeping higher (projected to be $171 this year, a 10% hike from last year -- good news for the industry, not such good news for travelers and their pocketbooks).
Mayor Ed Lee said that the data "shows we are on a very good track for recovery." Tourism is San Francisco's number one industry, with $8.3 billion in economic impact.
Mayor Lee also noted all the excitement in the city this year. Not only is the big bridge celebration planned, but there's 100 years of MUNI to celebrate (April 5 with the relaunch of the historic No. 1 streetcar), the opening of the Lands' End visitors center above the old Sutro Baths and, of course, the start of the America's Cup.
That international sailing race in 2013 has been pared down a bit in its ambitions, he said, but it is still going to be a thrilling event that will put San Francisco in the worldwide spotlight and draw thousands of visitors to the waterfront.
San Franciscans and visitors will get a taste of that excitement Oct. 4-8 when the city's annual Fleet Week festivities will be combined with a sample of the America's Cup so that we'll have the Blue Angels soaring overhead and those sleek multi-million dollar yachts sailing on the bay below.

Peek at San Francisco's New Exploratorium

The San Francisco waterfront is destined to play an even bigger role in the life of the city in the coming years. The tear-down of the Embarcadero freeway and the renovation of the Ferry Building were just the start of the renaissance. New restaurants, cafes, revamped piers and promenades seem to open each year and, with America's Cup sailing races expected to bring hundreds of thousands of people to the area in 2012 and 2013, more developments and improvements are in the works.
One of the most anticipated is the new Exploratorium, San Francisco's museum of "science, art and human perception," which broke ground last fall on Piers 15 and 17, at Embarcadero and Green Streets, about halfway between the Ferry Building and Pier 39. There's a large crane towering over the piers these days and you can even watch as the new building is constructed.
The first phase of the new Exploratorium is a $220 million project on Pier 15 (Pier 17 is on tap for future expansion) set to open in 2013 in a greatly expanded and more modern space than the museum's current home at the Palace of Fine Arts.
Museum staff said they expect visitor numbers to jump with the new, more accessible location, which is only a 10-minute walk from the Embarcadero BART station and along  major transportation lines (as opposed to the current location which is a cross-town journey for many visitors, particularly from the South and East bays.)

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The historic pier where the new Exploratorium is being built spans the length of almost three football fields. Engineers drove 160 foot piles underneath the bay to replace, repair and seismically upgrade hundreds of dilapidated pilings and the substructure, which date to the early 20^th century. The interior of Pier 15 will be preserved, including its truss structure, which stretches 820 feet — the equivalent of a New York City block.
The Observatory Building, the only new construction, will stand at the eastern end of Pier 15. The sleek, mostly glass structure will house a new gallery, outdoor terrace and a restaurant with panoramic bay views.
You can get a sense of what's coming at nearby Hyatt Regency San Francisco, which is showcasing the Exploratorium during the month of May as part of its "Culture Club" program. Each month, the hotel features a local cultural institution in its huge atrium lobby, North America's largest. (In June, the San Francisco Symphony will be featured; in July, Monterey Bay Aquarium).
Take a wander inside the atrium and check out several interactive exhibits from the Exploratorium that may bring back memories of field trips or afternoons at the Palace of Fine Arts. There's the pendulum snake, circle of waves, spinning eraser and the giant chair, among many others, that are a reminder of why the Exploratorium has been called "a scientific funhouse, art studio and an experimental laboratory all rolled into one."