LA Tourism's Latest Updates
A Note from Adam
Dear Valued Tourism Partners,
As you know from last month’s message, we recently had the privilege of hosting U.S. Travel Association’s IPW for the first time in over a decade. Considered the “Super Bowl” of international inbound travel tradeshows, IPW is projected to generate more than $1 billion in new business for our City of Angels. We’re particularly grateful to Mayor Karen Bass for joining us in person to welcome attendees and underscore how critically important travel and tourism is to the entire LA community.
An undertaking of this magnitude involved our entire local travel and tourism community, and I’d like to personally thank you for rolling out the red carpet for a record-setting 5,700 buyers, sellers, and members of the media from nearly 70 countries. With many members of the international travel trade returning to LA for the first time since the pandemic, it was an incredible showcase of all that’s new and “Now Playing” in Los Angeles and marked a watershed moment in accelerating the pace of recovery.
Concurrent with the start of IPW, we also announced our 2023 year-end tourism numbers, which you can read more about in this article published by the Los Angeles Times. Our team has also created a 2023 Community Benefits Fact Sheet that you can use to amplify the indispensable role that tourism plays in every LA region, neighborhood, and household. Your voice has never been more important and we encourage you to share the Fact Sheet across your professional and personal networks as appropriate.
While it will still take another 24 months for some of our key international markets to surpass 2019’s record performance, I’m thrilled to share that visitors drove more than $40.4 billion to local businesses in 2023 and contributed over $290.3 million to the City’s General Fund through the Transient Occupancy Tax on lodging, providing a wide range of essential services for all Angelenos. In fact, every LA County household enjoyed $965 in annual tax savings last year as a result of the state and local tax revenues generated by visitors!
From May 19-25, we hope you’ll join us in celebrating National Travel & Tourism Week, where we’ll be elevating why tourism is so vitally important to our community. I encourage you all to take advantage of U.S. Travel Association’s online toolkit to participate in the conversation across social media.
Recognizing that we’re beginning to see some softening of domestic leisure travel, we also recently launched a new drive and short-haul campaign to generate incremental business from key regional markets. Building off the success of our “Now Playing” messaging, this initiative highlights the countless events happening in Los Angeles throughout the year. From professional and amateur sports to concerts, the performing arts, museum & gallery exhibitions, and more, we’re encouraging consumers to plan a trip around these special events.
The campaign will run through June in markets including San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Phoenix and within Los Angeles, and is intended to drive hotel stays and visitor spending through out-of-home placements, social media platforms, ticketing websites, display/video, radio broadcasts and online search engines.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership!
All my best,
Join us for our June Member Mixer!
We would love to see you at our upcoming Member event.
Member Mixer | June 12th
Join us at Sony Studio's new Scenic Arts Building event space. The Scenic Arts Building dates back to 1938 and was used as a workshop space to hand paint large backdrops used in films like The Wizard of Us and The Sound of Music. Invite to come!
Now Playing: New Drive Campaign
LA Tourism is launching a new campaign in our drive markets through the end of June promoting major events happening throughout LA County. Multiple tourism reports indicate a leading travel trend for 2024 is event-based marketing. Enthusiasts are traveling more frequently to various sports events and performances away from home. There are hundreds of games, concerts and festivals happening in LA throughout the year. Most of these events/venues are located in close proximity to major LA hotel regions. Leveraging the abundance of events, we’re looking to drive room demand; offering potential visitors a “why now” message as our unique selling proposition.
Look out for our advertising in major drive markets and within LA. The campaign will be bookended by LA Pride in June and Dine LA Restaurant Week in July. A new creative concept and suite of assets has been developed specifically for the campaign. LA Tourism is also testing out a pilot program with Ticketmaster & Live Nation for advertising and audience targeting as part of the initiative.
LA Tourism at Work
India
LATCB participated in Luxury Tribe Event held in Delhi for luxury buyers in India. The event was an opportunity to connect with India’s top tier city travel curators and luxury suppliers. The team also participated in the panel discussion to highlight the luxury offerings of LA as a destination.
Universal Studios Hollywood and LA Tourism's mini- mission in India shared key product updates with trade agents in Mumbai. The event highlighted new and upcoming developments in Los Angeles as well as a preview of IPW where Universal Studios Hollywood has a major role and will be hosting the closing night
China
The team in China also partnered with Universal Studios Hollywood to host the Angel's Salon travel trade workshop in Beijing & Shanghai. Over the 3-day period, our teams met with over 30 key travel trade representatives, airline partners, US Embassy/Consulate colleagues, and key Chinese social media platforms. The event was greatly appreciated by all involved and provided an opportunity for multilateral collaboration among all participants..
Europe (UK & France)
Los Angeles Tourism celebrated 25 years of partnership with the UK and Irish travel trade this month, marking the silver anniversary of the opening of the London office. Francine Sheridan, Regional Vice President, Europe and ME, joined launch the European Regional Office in London in 1999. As well as supporting the UK and Ireland travel trade, media and industry partners, the team’s remit has grown to cover Europe and the Middle East over the 25 years.” The anniversary celebrations include a travel trade “appreciation” advertising campaign, which thanks UK&I travel trade for their support over the years.
Los Angeles Tourism was represented at briefing events hosted by PST Art in both London and Paris. The lunch events were to promote PST Art: Art & Science Collide, which will return to LA in September 2024 and welcomed top-tier arts and culture media. The PST delegation included Katherine E. Fleming, President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust; Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures; and Glenn Kaino, an artist and curator working with the Hammer Museum.
UK and French journalists discover Los Angeles on media FAMs. LA Tourism partnered with Irish airline Aer Lingus to bring top UK and Irish media to discover LA’s hidden gems throughout DTLA, Silver Lake and Culver City. We also hosted our first exclusively French press trip in several years in April, welcoming four top-tier journalists from Konbini, The Good Life, Cosmopolitan and Femme Actuelle.
Business Spotlight
Featured Press Coverage
Recent media coverage secured by our Global Communications team includes:
- New York Times (U.S.) -Downtown Los Angeles Places Another Big Bet on the Arts
- Saveur (U.S.) - Valley of Treasures
- Irish Independent (Ireland) - How to Ace Los Angeles
- Courier Mail (Australia) - LA beckons: The delights that make it more than a celebrity Mecca
- Smart Meetings (US) - A Planners Paradise: Southern California is Highly Adaptable and Ready for Groups
Help spread the news! Check out our latest press releases here.
SOME GOOD NEWS
The Los Angeles Convention Center recently announced its latest achievement in sustainability: certification as a Certified Green Business under the esteemed California Green Business Network. Read the press release here.
Have good news to share? Send it our way at membercommunications@latourism.org.
