Nope, I disagree. At the level of business that one finds headquartered in Silicon Valley (Hewlett-Packard etc.), I am certain that, in those heady days of the tech bubble, there was a lot of foreign travel into San José. I'm sure there was quite a bit of foreign business travel to SF as well (some major banks and investment management firms are headquartered there).

It's hard to imagine San Jose being the 14th most popular destination in the Country for business OR pleasure since there just aren't that many international flights going there. But, that said, I would be willing to bet that a huge percentage is business travel. Another large percentage is probably people visiting family. Santa Clara County has a very large immigrant population.

While there are things and places to see, I can't imagine recommending it as a must see destination considering all there is to see in California. For the record, I lived there for 25 years and am very glad not to live there anymore. By my taste, there is far too much traffic, far too many strip malls, too many mega malls, too many chain restaurants, and very little charm.

Grasshopper,

Chains, malls,traffic: that about describes any major city in the US including LA ad SF

The numbers of international visitors to the cities cited in the study drop off considerably after the 5th position (ironically, that is San Francisco). San José tends to attract about 2% of the total foreign visitors to the US in a given year. What DOES surprise me is that SJ is behind the Tampa/St. Pete metro area!

WatsOn, there's a lot more to the US than major cities. (Having just driven from Colorado to SF I can attest to that!) Now I live 40 minutes from SJ, on a quiet peaceful lagoon. I can't see any cars from my deck, and blessedly a lot less traffic to anywhere than my old commute in San Jose. It's a 15 minute drive to SFO and half an hour to lots of unique restaurants in SF. There are miles and miles of bike path right along the bay. I've never had the police helocopter hovering over my neighborhood here (unlike frequently happened in SJ). So far, no one has been stabbed in the park down the street (happened twice in SJ).

I'm glad I bought a house in San Jose 25 years ago. I sold it for 8 times what I paid for it back then.

WatsOn, I didn't say I live in SF. In fact, I wasn't comparing the two at all. I am <b>not</b> going to get into that debate. My comments were strictly related to why I'm glad I don't live in San Jose anymore.