SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The status of some summer events in San Diego is still up in the air. Organizers are scrambling to figure out whether or not to shut down for what is normally our busiest tourist season.
According to the San Diego Tourism Authority, visitors spend $11.6 billion here each year. This year, that's going to look much different.
Bob Rauch is a local hotel owner and tourism consultant. After the San Diego Fair announced its cancelation Tuesday, he's weighing i on what that means for our other big summer events.
RELATED: San Diego County Fair postponed until 2021 due to pandemic
"This year will be very different without the fair," said Rauch. "Very different without the beach, any access to parks, trails, anything to do, restaurants, bars."
10News reached out to other iconic summer attractions to see if they'll follow suit.
San Diego Pride announced Thursday that the annual Pride celebrations would be canceled. Organizers say a virtual celebration is being planned in place of the event, which would have been held July 17-19.
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club says they're still planning to hold their summer races, either without fans or with a limited number of fans. The group said it will present a plan to the county on how to continue with the summer season.
RELATED: San Diego Symphony cancels remainder of 2019-20 spring season
The San Diego Symphony says they're canceling events through the end of May, but are still looking at how to proceed with their summer concerts.
But, all of that can still change.
"As far as this being the first of many, let's hope that Comic-Con is not canceled," said Rauch. "And if it is, that it's merely postponed two or three months."
RELATED: Expert predicts concerts, sporting events won't return until fall 2021
Rauch says the economic impact we normally see from events and tourism may be gone forever.
"We wont recover the money," said Rauch. "It's not going to get so robust that we will recover the money. It's lost forever, that $6 billion that I anticipate over the next 21 months. But, I think we’ll recover by 2022 or 2023."
10News reached out to Comic-Con for the status of that event and are still waiting to hear back.