The History of San Francisco - Research Paper Example

San Francisco Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 3 DESTINATION RESEARCH 3 Historical Aspects 4 Population Demographics 4 Key Industries Major Corporations 5 Sales, Rooms & Meals Taxes 5 Tourism 6 Citywide Conventions 6 Special Events 7 Destination Research Summary 7 VENUE RESEARCH 8 FOOD & BEVERAGE OPERATIONS 10 Off-Site Group Meal Options 10 Off-Site Individual Meal Options 11 TRANSPORTATION 12 Interstate Travel 12 Local Travel 12 CONCLUSION 12 Works Cited 14 INTRODUCTION Hovering atop hills, covered with lovely fenland remarking its presence as Pacific’s one of the largest natural harbours, San Francisco has earned its fame as one of the most beautiful travel destinations of California State. This Bay Area located on the northern side of the state is famous for its natural splendour, entrepreneurship and diversity. Indeed, San Francisco has emerged as a hub for tourists from around the world today, hosting many annual events and programs throughout the year. Its national heritage in the historical context as well as in the dimension of natural beauty and steady lifestyle has been a lucrative advantage to visitors who prefer spending vacations or organising events in this city. Understanding these appraisals in the global forefront, the government of California has also been taking credible measures to support the growth in San Francisco. The paper focuses on the different aspects of the city located at the lap of the marshland, giving an overview of the different travel destinations within the periphery of San Francisco. A complete detailing has been provided in the content of this paper, on the various travel modes and the accommodation facilities available in the port city. DESTINATION RESEARCH San Francisco is positioned on a beautiful geographical location, having sea on one side and mountains on the other. The beautiful city hosting a number of activities, acts as an attraction to adventure lovers as well as nature lovers. Being the financial hub for Northern California, the city has also got its fame of being the financial hub of the state, which attracts a number of entrepreneurs and business heads to take interest of holding meetings here, boosting its Meetings, Expositions, Events & Conventions (MEEC) industry (U.S. News Travel, “Best Things to do in San Francisco”). The city also holds the competency to host a variety of tourist groups ranging from vocational tourists visiting the city to eco-tourists having special interests in wildlife and marine life. For instance, the city offers splendid natural beauty through its national parks, among which, Yosemite national park, the Point Reyes national seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) are world famous and attract millions of visitors round the year (Morton, “Top 10 national parks in California”). Historical Aspects In 3000 BC, the Europeans arrived at the California coast, when the area was inhabited by the ‘Ohlone’ speaking ‘Yelamu’ tribes. Later on, Juan Bautiza de Anza trooped in from north and established a Spanish control in the state. In 1821, Mexico won its sovereignty from the Spanish rule and drew a deadline for the mission era when it was named as Yerba Buena. Then, in 1847, the name Yerba Buena was replaced by San Francisco, following which gold was found for the first time at California’s foothills, which made the port city a central spot for Gold Rush (Mosier, 1-6). The city, being visited by a series of frenzied visitors, resulted in its lawlessness, which had initially led to inhibition to its fame as a favourable destination for tourists and business. However, with the augmentation in its social security measures as well as modernity, the city today stands as one of the most lucrative destinations among tourists and entrepreneurs (Davis, 8-20). The city has witnessed many transformations of human kind since its historic development. Evidences of such events can still be observed by the visitors in the city of San Francisco, visiting the national historic sites like the Alcatraz Island and Fort Point among others (National Park Service, “California”). Population Demographics San Francisco had the population strength of less than 400 in 1847. By the end of 1849, the population augmented suddenly and massively, ranging from 20,000 to 25,000 and went on increasing in the following years, particularly owing to the gold rush that took place in the city during that period. Today, the city has a population well above 700,000. The population of San Francisco has a median age of 38.2 years wherein 5 percent of the total population is accounted to be below 5 years of age, while 86 percent of the total population is 25 years old in the city. The largest affiliated religion of San Francisco is the Roman Catholic Church, which constitutes about 17 percent of the entire population. The female population of the country constitutes to about 49.1 percent in comparison to the male population of 50.9 percent (World Population Statistics, “San Francisco Population 2013”). Key Industries / Major Corporations The city enjoys the fame of being one of the major tourist termini leading to a massive development of the tourism business, which has currently become the backbone of the economy of the San Francisco. The city hosts more than 30 transnational financial institutions and has emerged as the major banking and finance centre (Forbes, “San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA Metropolitan Division”). About one-third of the total biotechnological personnel of the globe are counted to work in this city. Many production industries have also been operating in the area, to produce an extensive range of products. San Francisco has a large number of diverse industries, which has added to the economic development of the city (City-Data, “San Francisco: Economy”). Sales, Rooms & Meals Taxes San Francisco has the minimum state sales tax rate in the US, following the regimes enacted in California. The tax structure is more or less similar to that of the normal tax structure of the US. The meal and taxes are as per the tax rate declared in the US. The foods that are taxable and non-taxable are as per the rules laid down under the section 80/80 (State Board of Equalization, 2-10). Tourism San Francisco offers dynamic landforms and ever changing beauty of nature to its visitors. To be mentioned, the most interesting part of its natural beauty is the summer fog. The other major tourist attraction, which has played a major role in attracting tourists from around the world, includes: Cable car rides The Fisherman’s Wharf The aquarium of the bay The Cliff House The Golden Gate Bridge The Dragon Gateway Nob Hill Coit Tower Alcatraz Island Place of Fine Art Japanese Tea Garden (Cvent, “San Francisco, CA Meeting Planning Overview”) Citywide Conventions The city has adequate facilities to host meetings and convection wherein several hotels provide for the luxurious places to host banquets, receptions and conferences. There are versatile spaces to host balls and lobby functions. There are a number of hotels, which has around 20,000 hotel rooms. The city has around 33,000 hotel rooms, which provides around one million square-feet area of meeting place (Cvent, “San Francisco, CA Meeting Planning Overview”). Special Events The best time to visit San Francisco is during the autumn season between September and November. The weather is warmer with sunny skies, but the bayside breezes lower down the temperature. In the autumn season, the city hosts the San Francisco Jazz festival, Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival and lots more every year. The summer is the peak time of tourism in San Francisco when the hotel rates are highest. The temperature is warm during this season, and the chilly and damp winds bring with it the summertime festivities. There are events that are hosted by the city throughout the year, with the major attractions being organised in springtime and autumn season (U.S. News Travel, “Best Times to Visit San Francisco”). Destination Research Summary San Francisco, being an important port city, has all facilities to host meetings and banquets. Considering the fact that there are portion of business entities in San Francisco, which is also regarded as one of the important financial centres, it caters to all the needs that is required to organise successful business meetings and luxurious banquets. The port city has dynamic scenic beauty, attracting thousands of customers from different parts of the world. The port city belongs to the state of California, which gives it an added advantage of having lower tax rate compared to any other cities in the US (Cvent, “San Francisco, CA Meeting Planning Overview”). VENUE RESEARCH San Francisco is one of the major cities of the California State and has elixir venues for hosting tourists. Being the financial hub of Northern California, it is an important business centre, which has to accommodate several business meetings and conferences throughout the year. FOOD & BEVERAGE OPERATIONS Off-Site Group Meal Options Off-Site Individual Meal Options (Open Table, “San Francisco Private Dining”; Yelp, “Dining San Francisco”) TRANSPORTATION Interstate Travel San Francisco has a chain of transport system available from aircrafts, cars and regional buses. The San Francisco international airport is one of the major airports connecting the city to the international terminal. There are the Greyhound buses, which increases connectivity with the bay area. There are many highways which connects California to the other cities and states. There are eighty routes of the cable cars which connects the different suburbs to the city (USA Tourist, “San Francisco, California – Transportation”). Local Travel For the local travelling facilities, there are cable cars, rental cars and the Bay Area Rapid Transport buses. The waterways offer ferry passengers between the bay areas. The railroad running all around California also serves for a major transportation facility for the passengers and tourists. Moreover, there are bikes available on rent for travelling within the city. The rental cars both the off-site and from the private car sectors helps in transport within the city. Considering the fact that there are many scenic highways the best way to travel within the city (USA Tourist, “San Francisco, California – Transportation”). CONCLUSION San Francisco, serves as an ultimate travel destination with a diversified range of major landforms scenic beauty and ever changing natural display. The beauty of the state and the varied offerings for the source of enjoyment makes it a very adept travel destination for tourists around the world in the current day context. As can be apparently observed from the above discussion, San Francisco has moved way ahead to promote itself as a tourist destination in the global market. To place itself among the leaders in the tourism market of the world, San Francisco has been focused on maintaining diversity, sustainability and consistency in its tourism services, which consists a range of sectors including the business tourism sector, the eco-tourism sector and the MEEC sector as well. Educational tourism in the city has also paced-up in the recent years with the virtues of its globally ranked universities to cater researchers and students from around the world. Such diversity and developments have further nurtured its cultural heritage in today’s modern context, adding to its unique features in the world market. From a critical point of view, it can also be argued that with the augmentation in its tourism industry, San Francisco has also witnessed infrastructural growth in its transportation systems along with its wide-ranging network of hotels and resorts, suitable to suffice the needs of almost every group of visitors. 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