December 11, 2025
IN THIS ISSUE…
- Visit Santa Cruz County Sets the Stage for the FIFA World Cup 26™ SF Bay Area
- VSCC Hosts Japanese Journalist for Esquire, Safari Assignments
- Santa Cruz County a Pit Stop for German Travel Representatives as They “Race Across California”
Visit Santa Cruz County Sets the Stage for the FIFA World Cup 26™ SF Bay Area
Visit Santa Cruz County, along with a consortium of chambers of commerce, business organizations, local government representatives and parks and recreation staff known as “The Huddle” are coordinating efforts to support local businesses when soccer takes the world stage at Santa Clara’s Levi Stadium in 2026. Momentum had been increasing up to the final draw, which took place on Friday, December 5th in Washington, D.C. when the group-stage matches for the 48-team tournament hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States were determined.
Visit Santa Cruz County staff were present during the live drawing telecast at San Francisco’s Chase Center as stakeholders, Bay Area destination representatives, sponsors and others learned that Qatar and Switzerland will kick off as the first of the featured teams participating in six matches at Levi’s Stadium in June and early July 2026.
The matches scheduled to take place at Levi’s Stadium are as follows:
- June 13, 12:00 p.m. Qatar vs. Switzerland – Group B
- June 16, 9:00 p.m. Austria vs. Jordan – Group J
- June 19, 9:00 p.m. Playoff winner of (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo) vs.
Paraguay – Group D
- June 22, 8:00 p.m. Jordan vs. Algeria – Group J
- June 25, 7:00 p.m. Paraguay vs. Australia – Group D
- July 1, 5:00 p.m. Round of 32 match: Group D winner and 3rd place team from group B, E, F, I or J.
The Bay Area is one of 16 host sites in North America, with Levi’s Stadium to host five Group Stage games and a Round of 32 matchups in 2026. The U.S. Travel Association estimates that six million visitors are expected to attend the games nationwide; 16 cities throughout Canada, Mexico and the United States will host games. Locally, tens of thousands of fans are expected to visit the Bay Area specifically for this global soccer event.
VSCC plans to leverage the location of Levi’s Stadium and the influx of visitors to the Bay Area to boost tourism to the region. A mere 35 miles from the soccer venue combined with the progressive roots for which Santa Cruz County is known, VSCC will expand the regional footprint for soccer fans traveling to the area to root for their favorite team.
A soccer-specific website, KickOffSantaCruz.com was produced by VSCC where visitors to the region can find hotel accommodations, places to eat and things to do. The goal of amplifying engagement through hotel bookings, curated experiences and special events associated with the competition will ultimately elevate the economic opportunities the tournament presents to local businesses as well as foster community engagement.
VSCC also created a logo with the tagline “Kickoff Santa Cruz” for businesses and organizations to use for merchandise and promotional efforts, including its use as a weblink to the microsite.
Local businesses and organizations can submit their event and activation information and access the “Kickoff Santa Cruz” logos by contacting VSCC.
VSCC Hosts Japanese Journalist for Esquire, Safari Assignments
An integral part of VSCC’s year-around media relations program includes hosting domestic and international media on an individual basis. Most recently, Japanese journalist Hidehiko Kuwata visited the Santa Cruz region on assignment for Esquire Japan online and Safari magazine, a lifestyle and travel publication similar to GQ. Although his focus was on the local music scene, he was treated to curated, only-in-Santa-Cruz-County experiences to round out his stay.
Director of Communications Christina Glynn facilitated Mr. Kuwata’s visit to the area using Visit California’s Gold Pass Program, which enables journalists to travel to the state once they have secured assignments covering three destinations. Visit California will then host the journalist’s air fare and car hire. Christina reached out to Visit San Jose and The San Francisco Peninsula so that Mr. Kuwata would qualify for Gold Pass, and he flew directly from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport into San Jose Mineta International Airport on ZIPAIR, which launched this nonstop route in December of 2022.
Designing an itinerary around music, Christina scheduled stops at local record stores in Downtown Santa Cruz and meet-and-greets with sitarist Ashwin Batish and guitar maker Jeff Traugott. Additionally, Christina facilitated a meeting with Scott Hernandez-Jason, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Communications and Marketing and Sam Regal, Instruction and Exhibitions Librarian so that Mr. Kuwata could view The Grateful Dead archives at UC Santa Cruz. He also attended a concert at Felton Music Hall and heard live music at Abbott Square in Downtown Santa Cruz. Another stop on the itinerary included a tour of the Kuumbwa Jazz Center and a group dinner with Managing Director Chanel Enriquez followed by a performance at the venue. A visit to the Santa Cruz Harbor and a sailing excursion on The Chardonnay, a light hike at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, a walk on the Santa Cruz Wharf, a visit to the Swift Street Courtyard and a DIY tour of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk rounded out his activities. Mr. Hidehiko stayed at the Marea Sol Hotel during his time in-market.
Overall, Japanese visitation to California is up 5.1 percent year-to-date, including a 20 percent spike in air arrivals in August. The number of Japanese visitors to California has increased YOY by 13 percent, with the San Francisco Bay Area the third most popular part of the state to visit, following Los Angeles/Long Beach and Orange County. With ZIPAIR now firmly in place at SJC and offering regular nonstop flights three times a week from Tokyo, Visit Santa Cruz County continues to explore opportunities in the Japanese market.
Santa Cruz County a Pit Stop for German Travel Representatives as They “Race Across California”
Visit Santa Cruz County was proud to be one of the “pit stops” during Visit California’s Race Across California familiarization tour, designed to promote the state’s Roadtrip Republic campaign, which encourages visitors to explore highways throughout the region as a way to discover the best of what the Golden State has to offer.
This innovative, experiential fam trip involved five international teams comprised of tour operators from the UK, Ireland, Germany, France and Italy. This gamified, modern fam was a hybrid between the UK television show Race Across the World and a traditional familiarization trip reimagined, with activities encouraging collaboration and teamwork through challenging and a sense of play to the travel trade education space.
The Santa Cruz County portion of the itinerary featured experiences inspired by sense of place: Strolling Capitola Village, lunch among the redwood trees at The Grove Cafe + Bakery in Felton, a walk through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park’s Redwood Loop Trail, sailing on Monterey bay with Pacific Sail Santa Cruz, a scenic tour of West Cliff Drive with a stop at the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum, a craft beer tasting at Humble Sea Brewing Company, ending the day with dinner at Vim Dining & Desserts.
The group wrapped up their coastal adventure with an overnight stay at the Hilton Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley, where they recharged their batteries before hitting the road again to the grand finale in San Diego, where all five groups converged for a final celebration.
Promote Your Business or Activation to Soccer Fans
VSCC has developed two logos specific to the 2026 World Cup. These complimentary, community-based logos can be used by local businesses and organizations for merchandise and as a link to VSCC’s landing page specific to the World Cup, which will feature places to stay and information about local activations and watch parties. Email VSCC to inquire about obtaining these logos for your restaurant, pub, or local organization’s website or any merchandise you plan to develop!
New Wine District Approved
An assessment district designed to promote the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA has been established, following approval by the county board of supervisors. Beginning in January, the newly formed Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Heritage District will represent wineries in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and work to promote the region as a wine destination. More information to follow!
Partner Kudos!
Congratulations to Nicole Coburn who was appointed County Executive Officer, replacing Carlos Palacios who is retiring this month. The California Hotel + Lodging Association honored Michael Sunzeri, Engineer at the La Bahia Hotel & Spa at the CHLA Hotel All-Stars event in Long Beach on December 5th. This Industry Awards program recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of employees and hotels in the CA lodging industry. And congrats to Amah Mutsun Tribal Band (AMTB) Chairman, Valentin Lopez who has stepped down as Tribal Chair and Amah Mutsun Land Trust Board President to retire. Ed Ketchum has now stepped into a new role as AMTB Chairman. Chairman Ketchum has been a member of the Tribal Council since 1992, most recently as Vice-Chair and Tribal Historian.
VSCC Fall Campaign Results
The 12-week annual fall digital campaign has concluded, targeting in-state visitors and Seattle and key markets in Arizona, two top out-of-state regions for Santa Cruz County. The campaign began on September 1st and continued through November 30, delivering 29.1 million impressions and generating over 1,300 hotel bookings for an estimated total of more than 597,000 in enriched hotel room revenue and an average ADR of $183.80.
Did you know…
San José Mineta International Airport (SJC) is ranked sixth globally for on-time performance (OTP) in the medium airport category, making SJC the top-performing airport in California. Of the 106,655 SJC flight departures tracked for the report, 84.74 percent departed on time. An on-time departure is the percentage of completed flights that departed from the gate on time. On time is defined as departing within 15 minutes of the scheduled departing time. The on-time departure ranking is used to determine the top performing airports.