Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul in S.A TX
I wonder why it is this way? San Antonio attracts 31 million annual visitors and is the 10th the most visited U.S. destination and it was also the 18th most visited U.S. city by international travelers. It also had the highest percentage increase in the state for international travel. A very popular city with a cute little landlocked medium sized airport. Will we ever have a big time airport that reflects a city of 2.4 million people? What will the city do when we reach 3 million inhabitants, in another 10 or so years? I think they also need to name the Airport, S.A. international is boring! I always thought S.A. Hugman International Airport has a good ring to it. Hugman, the architect of the Riverwalk.
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Never take stats at face value. The entities in charge and their PR team go for the wow factor when they release numbers.
First, airlines prefer business passengers over leisure passengers because they provide more predictability and profit. Company employees, vendors, or consultants flying for routine work gives the airlines and their routes some stability and guaranteed passengers. It also dampens the waves on seasonal tourists.
Then drill down on those 30 million visitors and look at how many are business passengers, conventioneers, and leisure. On the leisure branch, how many visitors are from outside Texas? San Antonio is a very popular driving vacation for Dallas, Houston, Corpus, the valley, etc. That's one reason why we have 30 million visitors but only 9 million airport passengers.
For the international numbers - again look at origin. Mexico dominates that space by a humongous margin. That's why SAT is so well connected with cities south of the border. The really awesome traffic volume from Mexico can't be used to justify a flight to Toronto or Madrid.