Features

SAN FRANCISCO — With the Golden Gate Bridge temporarily closed to bike and pedestrian traffic for security reasons, tourists eager for a close-up look at the landmark are gazing at it from afar. 

That’s only one of the disappointments facing tourists in San Francisco, which usually enjoys a heavy influx of sightseers in September and October. Fleet Week has been canceled, Pier 39 is cutting hours and tour buses are altering routes. 

That all has translated into less business for the city’s $6.5 billion tourism industry, with cancellations everywhere from hotels to tour buses. About 16 million tourists visit San Francisco each year, and 82,000 jobs in the city are supported by the tourism industry. 

“Business is terrible,” said Jack Abof, general manager of Adventure USA, a local tour bus company. “We’ve lost between $35,000 and $45,000. And there have been several canceled charter tours.” 

For the tourists already in San Francisco, there are some advantages. 

A line that usually curls around itself at the Powell Street cable car station was short enough Friday for riders to hop on with each approaching cable car. An operator said ridership was extremely low for one of San Francisco’s most popular tourist attractions. 

The Golden Gate Bridge’s walkways and bike lanes will remain closed until at least Friday, when officials will decide whether to extend the closure. Bridge spokeswoman Mary Currie said there have been no direct threats to the bridge. 

Elizabeth Murphy, who was visiting from Ireland, said she didn’t realize the bridge was closed for security reasons. 

“I did not have a clue,” she said. “I thought maybe it was a special day, and it was closed for painting.” 

The bridge has been closed to pedestrian and bike traffic since Sept. 11, the day of the terrorist attacks on the East Coast. Officials are operating a shuttle service that takes bikers and their bicycles across the bridge, and visitors still can cross in cars or buses, Currie said. 

A visitors’ center and scenic spots around the bridge, such as the popular Vista Point, all are closed as well. 

“Business is very slow, because no tourist buses can park here, no tourist cars can park,” said May Mui, 34, who has worked at the Bridge Cafe for four years. 

Volker Hirsch and his wife, Birgitt, from Bremen, Germany, said it was the first time they had found something closed in San Francisco. 

“There is nothing to see, it’s closed,” Hirsch said, adding he was unaware of the closure before arriving there. 

Local tour companies are altering their routes, since they no longer can drop off visitors at the bridge. Grayline’s city tour buses are driving across the bridge, but not stopping. 

Abof said his buses aren’t taking people to the bridge, and are limiting the three-hour tour to the Palace of Fine Arts and other city landmarks. 

Kelly Chamberlain, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Visitors and Convention Bureau, said this is usually a peak time for tourism in the city. But she said the cancellation of Fleet Week, scheduled for Oct. 5-7, will have a big impact on the city. 

The California Dental Association canceled its convention in San Francisco the weekend after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but Chamberlain said so far most other conventions are still on. 

“We’re seeing a decline in the business and leisure traveler,” she said. “But this time is also a huge convention time, and we don’t have cancellations for those yet. That should pump hotels back up.” 

Ron Vinson, deputy press secretary for Mayor Willie Brown, said the city is focusing on encouraging residents to resume normal activities. 

“We don’t want people to live in fear,” Vinson said. “We’re telling everyone to do what they normally do — to go see a movie or go out to dinner or go to the zoo.” 

But, in a city that counts on spending by tourists, the decline in visitors will hit hard. Pier 39, a waterfront tourist attraction, will shift to winter hours on weekdays starting Monday — at least a month earlier than normal — because of the loss in customers. The winter schedule, which shaves one to two hours from the peak season schedule, normally doesn’t go into effect until November. 

Pier 39 spokeswoman Alicia Vargas said 82 percent of all San Francisco hotel guests visit the pier, but hotel vacancies are way up. She said some shops along the pier are mulling layoffs. 

“The past week has been like the business in January or February, when we know things are going to be slow anyway,” said Claudia Valentine, manager of The Pier Market, a seafood restaurant. 

Heather Hovey, a spokeswoman for the Argent Hotel, said hotels suffered when the dentists’ convention was canceled, and that “September won’t be what we thought it was going to be.” 

Taxi companies also are feeling the brunt of the tourism decline. The downturn may lead to some vans being taken out of service temporarily, and to shorter shifts for drivers. 

“Usually, each driver transports 30 to 50 passengers a day,” said Thadius Vinson, a dispatcher at American Taxi Cab. “Now they’re transporting maybe 12, some as low as six, a day.”