San Francisco hires tourism official Josh Beck to lure vacationers back to crime-ravaged city – as he insists claims city is unsafe are not ‘100% true’

San Francisco has hired a tourism official to encourage travelers to visit “the city by the bay” as it battles rampant crime, homelessness and drug crises.

Josh Beck will be the new president and CEO of the San Francisco Travel Association, and the person the city’s tourism board and marketing organization is looking to in hopes of returning SanFran to the vibrant resort town it once was.

Beck, who currently heads Destination Toronto, will begin his new role on Oct. 30, replacing former head Joe D’Alessandro, who headed the travel company for nearly two decades and is retiring in December.

The city has been hit hard in recent years by a homelessness crisis, rampant drug use and public safety concerns. In August, the city reported nearly 1,670 car burglaries, adding to the nearly 10,000 thefts from vehicles recorded in the city this year.

Over the Labor Day holiday, several groups of tourists were victims of car burglaries in which all their personal belongings and passports were stolen, which occurred in broad daylight and within minutes of each other on a San Francisco beach.

Despite this, Beck claims that the biggest challenge is the “continuing narrative of San Francisco as a monolithic experience, when that is clearly not the case.” San Francisco Chronicle reported.

On their second day in San Francisco, a group of tourists from Malta considered cutting short their trip and returning to Europe after the brutal blow that took place in just 10 minutes in broad daylight.

A brazen thief is caught on camera breaking into a white Lexus parked on a San Francisco city street. The attack took place in broad daylight

Beck claimed that media reports about whether San Francisco is safe are “not 100 percent accurate,” the news source said.

The city has a huge tourism and hospitality industry that supports more than 53,000 jobs.

While some vacationers have returned, the tourist flow is nothing close to what the city of Frisco saw at its peak in 2019, and experts say it will take a few years to return to those levels.

The marketing guru pointed out that other urban cities across the country are struggling and facing similar problems as San Francisco.

The San Francisco Travel Association has an annual budget of $33 million. The agency is currently conducting their most ambitious tourism campaign to date, costing $6 million.

A recent one opinion research found that nearly half of Americans believe San Francisco is dangerous, despite the city having a lower violent crime rate than many major cities, the news outlet reported.

According to the poll, 48 percent of Americans consider San Francisco unsafe. That number has increased by as much as 30% compared to 2006.

The survey also revealed the city’s political divisions, with 74 percent of Democrats believing the city is safe, compared to their Republican counterparts who give the city a 32 percent rating.

The city is facing an increase in homelessness and outdoor drug use

Open-air drug markets and chronic substance abuse have taken over part of the once vibrant city

Tourists visiting the Golden Gate Bridge

Although violent crime has declined in San Francisco, the survey results reflect homelessness, chronic substance abuse, property crime and other major problems in the city.

Beck said it’s too early to tell if there will be any major strategic shifts at the travel company, but he remains hopeful, calling San Francisco “one of the great cities in the world for American and international travelers.”

In a statement, he shared how happy he was to join the organization.

He said in part, “A strong tourism industry is vital to the city’s economy, local businesses and neighborhoods, and I am passionately committed to helping San Francisco’s continued tourism recovery.”