Salesforce Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff said he pushed San Francisco officials to clean up the city before his company’s annual conference began in its hometown this week and is happy with the results.
“We put a lot of pressure on the city this year,” Benioff said Wednesday during a press event. “It looks great. It’s very safe right now. We’re moving in the right direction.”
Benioff caused a stir last month when he said that Dreamforce, San Francisco’s largest convention, could leave the city if those attending the event were affected by homelessness and drug use.
“Nobody liked that — I didn’t like to say it,” Benioff said about his threat during a separate event Wednesday on stage with California Governor Gavin Newsom.
“We’re sucking up to you, we want to keep you here,” Newsom said, after Benioff remarked that the city this week is the cleanest he’s ever seen it.
About 43,000 people are expected to attend Dreamforce, which will generate almost $90 million for the city, a Salesforce spokesperson said, citing San Francisco Travel Association data. The conference is scheduled to conclude on Thursday.
A move away from the city by Salesforce’s most-significant annual meeting would be another blow to the area’s tourism economy, following the relocation of major events run by Oracle Corp. and the cloud division of Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Conference spending remains far below pandemic levels — falling to $587 million in 2022 after generating almost $2 billion in 2019, according to the San Francisco Travel Association.
The association estimates that convention-related hotel stays will decline 34% in 2024 compared with this year. Overall visitor spending has been quicker to rebound, and is expected to be at 88% of pre-pandemic levels this year.
Despite being happy with how things have gone this year, Benioff didn’t respond to a press question about whether Dreamforce would be back in San Francisco in 2024, saying city officials have more work to do. “Homelessness remains a major issue in our city,” Benioff said, adding that more housing is needed and more police officers should be hired.
“Ramping up police visibility and community ambassadors in key tourist areas has been an ongoing effort,” said a spokesperson for Mayor London Breed’s office. “San Francisco is committed to making Dreamforce a world-class event, as we do year after year.”
Salesforce representatives said there haven’t been any reports of safety incidents around homelessness or drug use affecting conference attendees as of Wednesday afternoon. A San Francisco Police Department spokesman said there were no such incidents during last year’s Dreamforce event either.