Around the world, in town, and on the web, LA Tourism and Convention Board is working to help grow and support the Los Angeles tourism community and keep the world coming to LA.
TRADESHOWS, SALES MISSIONS, TRAVEL TRADE FAMS & OTHER WORK
MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS SALES, MAY 2013
IGLTA Annual Global Convention, May 1-5, Chicago. The International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association’s (IGLTA) is the world’s premier educational and networking event to connect businesses in the LGBT tourism industry. LA Tourism was pre-promoting , having been selected as host city for the 2015 IGLTA Global Convention.
PCMA Annual Dinner, May 15. Washington, D.C. LA Tourism was a sponsor of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) Annual Education Foundation Dinner Celebrating Professional Achievement. The LA Tourism D.C. Sales Team hosted six key clients including Direct Marketing Association (which confirmed its convention for Los Angeles in 2016), the American Society for Industry Security, Grantmakers in Health, Experient, and Stellato Meeting Solutions.
ASAE Springtime Expo, May 16. Washington, D.C. American Society of Association Executives’ (ASAE) annual Citywide meeting and trade show. LA Tourism’s D.C. Sales Team collected nine RFP's and 179 leads at the Springtime Expo.
Smart Mart, May 22. Chicago. One-day event appointment-based event, like speed-dating for meeting planners and suppliers who have confirmed upcoming business. LA Tourism Sales Team networked with 75 qualified meetings planners and had 12-15 pre-scheduled one-on-one appointments.
Customer FAM – The LA Tourism Sales Team hosted a customer familiarization trip May 21-23 with 13 qualified meeting planners. The FAM trip was organized in collaboration with numerous LA Tourism partners and members including Universal Studios Hollywood and L.A. LIVE.
SGMP National Conference, May 22-24. Orlando, FL. The SGMP National Education Conference (NEC) is the biggest annual event in the government meetings industry. Government professionals from across the country come together for one-stop and non-stop education, resources and networking. There were two exhibit hall sessions of two hours each showcasing Los Angeles to the hundreds of planners attending. The LA Tourism Sales Team met with more than 40 government meeting planners from across the country about meeting possibilities in Los Angeles.
Affordable Meetings, HSMAI’s MEET West, May 29-30. Anaheim, CA. Organized by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI), MEET West connects 500 planning professionals from corporations, associations, non-profits, and government to exhibitors offering resources, hotels, convention and visitors bureaus, and food, equipment and technology suppliers to move their meetings and events forward.
INTERNATIONAL
The LA Tourism International Marketing Team hosted eight familiarization trips (FAMS) to Los Angeles between May 1 and June 1 from the UK (3), China, Mexico (2), Australia and Japan.
Visit California Mexico Sales Mission, May 7-9. Mexico. The LA Tourism Sales team took part in a sales mission to Mexico with Visit California, and met with Mexico’s leading trade professionals to promote travel to LA. The program included Travel Agents, Tour Operators, marketplace presentations, training, and individual B2B appointments.
Hanatour International Travel Show, May 24-26. Korea. LA Tourism’s Sales Team attended Korea’s largest travel show organized by HanaTour, working to promote LA to the 50,000 attendees.
CLIENT SERVICES
The American Society of Human Genetics has confirmed Los Angeles for their October 2020 annual convention, projected to generate close to 12,000 room nights in Los Angeles. The final competition for LA was Anaheim, after San Francisco and San Diego both lost the bid.
Expanded Services - LA Tourism’s Client Services Team expanded their focus on “Destination Services” to include providing assistance to self contained/multi-hotel groups throughout Los Angeles. The Destination Services Team will have specialists for each of the 10 Regions of the Great LA area that LA Tourism serves, allowing them to more effectively bid against other destinations and attract new business to Los Angeles.
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, May 12-17. Phoenix, AZ. At the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) the LA Tourism Client Services Team did pre-promotions for the 2014 Intel ISEF, which has committed to holding in Los Angeles next May.
COMMUNICATIONS/MEDIA
The Steve Harvey Show – On May 22, an episode of The Steve Harvey Show aired featuring Emily Kaufman - The Travel Mom - discussing how to have a fantastic local vacation in Los Angeles without leaving home. Highlighted were some of LA’s best attractions, and Steve Harvey gave one lucky viewer an all-inclusive Los Angeles vacation package. LA Tourism assisted in finding hotels and attractions to offer stays, meals, and spa treatments to be included in the prize package. The daytime NBC talk show recently won the People’s Choice Award, and averages 2 million viewers per episode. steveharveytv.com
PBS Travel Show – Arranged filming locations highlighting family-friendly LA attractions for “Family Travel with Colleen Kelly,” an upcoming travel show to air this fall on PBS.
Toronto Media Mission – Domestic Media Manager Kimberli Samuel attended the Visit California Toronto Media Reception on May 14 for in-person discussions about LA’s many unique attractions. Over 60 journalists were in attendance representing outlets including Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, AOL Canada, and Global Television Network.
Memorial Day Weekend Media Coverage – Los Angeles was featured as a Memorial Day weekend destination in broadcast news segments across the country as a result of working with Orbitz on a Satellite Media Tour. CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates in Denver, Tucson, Sacramento, San Antonio, Austin, Washington, D.C. and other top markets featured LA as a top travel pick. Nationally, Fox News and CNN included the destination. Locally, Vice President of Communications Susan Lomax made an appearance on NBC’s morning show “Today in LA” on May 24 to deliver Memorial Day Weekend stay-cation ideas.
Media FAMS – The LA Tourism Communications team has been working hard to keep the LA destination and LATCB members in the news, organizing FAM trips for domestic and international media on assignment for a broad range of stories. FAMS since April 6 include three groups of journalists from the UK, seven from Latin America, six from the United States and two from Canada.