Who's paying for SF Mayor London Breed's trip to Europe?

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- San Francisco Mayor London Breed is in Europe right now promoting the city by the bay as a great place to visit and do business.

Two years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism is still a long way away from a full recovery.

It's the reason why Mayor Breed has headed to Europe to try and lure international visitors back to the city.

"This is a 10-day mission. A $25,000 trip where the mayor will be joined, is joined, by a few members of her staff as well as some leaders in the traveling tourism industry in the city," according the Annie Gaus, news editor at The San Francisco Standard.

She spoke to ABC7's Kristen Sze on "Getting Answers" on Thursday.

"She'll be visiting London, Paris, Frankfurt and Brussels and the mission of this trip is to promote tourism, get visitors back to the city and to promote a positive image of San Francisco," said Gaus.

RELATED: SF Mayor London Breed heads to Europe to court international visitors back to Bay Area

Who is paying for her trip?

"San Francisco International Airport is footing the bill for this trip. And as opposed to the city's general fund, which is the general pool of money that funds all our municipal services," said Gaus.

"And the reason they're paying for this trip is because SFO is what's considered an enterprise department of the city, meaning they function like a business they fund their own operations. Through revenue. So the airport itself has an interest in bringing tourism back because they need that revenue as well as the city at large."

Watch the full interview in the media player above.

ABC7 is excited to continue our partnership with the brand new San Francisco Standard. Part of Building A Better Bay Area is highlighting anyone who's working toward the same mission we have here at ABC7. The SF Standard's deep and insightful reporting on the city does just that.

See the San Francisco Standard's other original reporting here.