Around the world, in town, and on the web, LATCB 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
INTERNATIONAL FAMS
The International Team hosted familiarization visits (FAMs) with travel trade groups from India (1) and Mexico (1) to promote the destination and our members located in LA.
INTERNATIONAL AND DESTINATION SERVICES TEAMING UP FOR SYTA
The International Team and Destination Services Team collaborated on hosting the Student Youth Travel Association (SYTA) Annual Conference in Los Angeles from Aug. 23 - 27.
SYTA is a non-profit, professional trade association that promotes student and youth travel. This year LA was the host city for the conference, which brought together tour operators and suppliers to increase student and youth travel business. The conference offered business trade appointments, seminars, networking opportunities and an interactive show floor. The trade show was attended by nearly 200 tour operators mainly from the U.S. and Canada with 600 hotels and other suppliers. LATCB had a strong presence with a marketplace trade show booth, joined by 11 hotel partners interested in the student and youth travel market. LATCB had 25 confirmed appointments with several touch points and networking opportunities throughout the four-day conference.
LATCB’s Australia office participated in the annual Flight Centre Discover America travel expos on July 28, Aug. 4 and Aug. 11 in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia. This series of weekend travel expos are the largest leisure travel exhibitions in Australia and attract over 100,000 consumers. LATCB’s Australian team was out in force with airline partners promoting heavily discounted airfare deals to Los Angeles and providing updates on the progress of LAX airport’s new Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT), opening Sept. 18, LATCB’s Car Free LA program, the Metro transit expansions, and advice on accommodations and activities in LA directly to consumers.
SALES/DESTINATION SERVICES
ASAE 2013 Annual Meeting. Aug. 3-6, Atlanta, GA.
LATCB's Sales Team exhibited at the ASAE Annual Meeting, Aug. 3-6 in Atlanta. ASAE represents more than 21,000 association executives and industry partners representing 10,000 organizations. Over 2,900 association executives attended the show. We were joined in the booth with partners from Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza, JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE, Universal Studios Hollywood, and the Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City. We also hosted a small customer event at SkyLounge prior to the opening reception where we were joined by several clients, including the American Academy of Otolaryngology, the Emergency Nurses Association, The Obesity Society, the International Association for Food Protection, and Conference Direct.
GBTA 2013 San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA. Aug. 4-7
LATCB has been selected as the host city for the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) 2014 Annual Convention. LATCB represented the destination in a 20 x 20 ft. island booth at the GBTA 2013 Convention in San Diego, Aug. 5-7. GBTA is one of the world’s leading business travel and meetings organizations. Collectively, GBTA has 5,000-plus members managing over $340 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. The GBTA 2013 Convention put valuable industry insight and market knowledge within reach for business travel professionals around the world. The average travel buyer at the GBTA Convention manages an $84 million travel program and 10,000 travelers. On aggregate, this event represents $123 billion in buying power. On the expo floor, there were more than 60 connections made with business travel buyers with the LATCB team. We were alongside industry suppliers showcasing the latest technologies, tools, and trends. With our attendance at GBTA 2013, we were able to showcase the destination to more than 1,500 targeted prospects, increasing our destination visibility, and connecting with international travel buyers.
INCENTIVEWORKS
LATCB’s Sales Team had a strong presence at IncentiveWorks at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, Toronto, Canada, Aug. 20-21. IncentiveWorks is Canada’s largest and longest running education and trade show event for the meetings, incentive travel and special events industry. The event featured two days of education, networking, and tradeshow opportunities to build Canadian MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions) business, with more than 700 companies from Canada and around the world with incentive travel planning needs. A combination of hosted buyer appointments and meeting planners networking enabled LATCB’s Sales Team to showcase Los Angeles and all of its regions.
COMMUNICATIONS/MEDIA
MEDIA FAMS
The 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. FAM trips to the LA region between Aug. 1 and Aug. 31 included one from Mexico, two from Canada, one from Brazil, four from the United States, seven from the U.K., one from France, and one from Italy.
SATELLITE MEDIA TOUR PROMOTING LABOR DAY TRAVEL
On Aug. 26, the LATCB communications team hosted a Satellite Media Tour (SMT) to promote Labor Day Weekend travel to Los Angeles. The tour featured spokesperson Colleen Kelly, host of the new PBS TV Show “Family Travel with Colleen Kelly,” giving back-to-back interviews with over 20 local market news stations across the U.S., including in key feeder markets Chicago, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, with nationally syndicated morning show Dayline, and several national radio shows. The SMT promoted holiday weekend and fall family travel tips highlighting Los Angeles as a top destination, and promoted the two new 30-minute LA destination features premiering this fall on PBS on Oct. 5 and Nov. 9.
LA FEATURED IN BRITISH AIRWAYS IN-FLIGHT MAGAZINE HIGHLIFE
The LATCB PR Team in the U.K. and the U.S. worked with British Airways in-flight magazine editors on a 24-page cover story in this month’s issue. The feature coincides with this month’s launch of BA’s new A-380 service from London/Heathrow Airport to LAX. The magazine will be in every seat, network-wide, worldwide and in BA lounges for the entire month of September.