San Antonio’s River Walk
The San Antonio River Walk is a city park and special-case pedestrian street in San Antonio, Texas, one level down from the automobile street. The River Walk winds and loops under bridges as two parallel sidewalks lined with restaurants and shops, connecting the major tourist draws from the Shops at Rivercenter, to the Arneson River Theatre, to Marriage Island, to La Villita, to HemisFair Park, to the Tower Life Building, to the San Antonio Museum of Art, to the Pearl and the city’s five Spanish colonial missions, which have been named a World Heritage Site, which includes the Alamo. During the annual springtime Fiesta San Antonio, the River Parade features flowery floats that float down the river.
The River Walk annually attracts about 9.3 million non-resident visitors annually, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state of Texas. Additionally, 2.2 million residents visit the River Walk, bring total annual visitors to 11.5 million.
These visitors spend about $2.4 billion each year, which supports more than 31,000 jobs. The people in these jobs earn incomes and benefits of over $1 billion.
The total economic impact of San Antonio’s River Walk is over $3 billion per year.