Los Angeles welcomed 43.4 million visitors in 2014, a remarkable fourth consecutive record-setting year. In this first newsletter of 2015, L.A. Tourism features upcoming January and February events like dineL.A's Restaurant Week, the Pan African Film Festival and the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. With an eye towards 50 million annual visitors in 2020, L.A. Tourism extends best wishes for an exciting, healthy and prosperous New Year.
L.A. Hosts IAEE Expo! Expo!
More than 2,100 exhibition and events industry professionals gathered in Los Angeles to take part in networking, education sessions and a bustling floor show at the International Association of Exhibitions and Events’ (IAEE) Expo! Expo!. Held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from Dec. 9-11, the three-day event kicked off with welcome remarks by L.A. Tourism’s Ernest Wooden Jr. and Mayor Eric Garcetti, who issued a proclamation underscoring the value of conventions to Los Angeles. L.A. Tourism’s opening and closing receptions at the L.A. LIVE campus and host-hotel JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE showcased the destination, while all four Marriott properties at L.A. LIVE — the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Los Angeles, JW Marriott Hotel Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE, Residence Inn Los Angeles Downtown and Courtyard Los Angeles Downtown — housed show organizers and attendees for the event.
L.A. Tourism also hosted a pre-IAEE Expo! Expo! 2014 customer familiarization event from Dec. 7-8. The FAM showcased Downtown Los Angeles, Universal Studios Hollywood, Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Omni Hotel Los Angeles California Plaza, The JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE, The O Hotel, Red Line Tours, STAPLES Center, the Los Angeles Lakers, Grand Central Market, Six Taste Food Tours and Perch LA.
Finally, L.A. Tourism partnered with IAEE to offer city tours to more than 100 IAEE Expo! Expo! attendees highlighting Downtown Los Angeles on the Starline Hop On Hop Off Tour, which stopped at Olvera Street and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“Hosting decision-makers for the $11 billion exhibitions and events industry for IAEE ‘s Expo! Expo! in L.A. is a huge coup for our destination,” said Wooden. “Expo! Expo! along with our new media campaign targeting meetings and conventions delivers the message that our year-round warm weather and blue skies, wide variety of top-notch venues and hotels, exciting culinary scene, glamorous shopping, nightlife, museums, and the allure of Hollywood, make Los Angeles a perfect meetings destination.”
Conventions mean big business for Los Angeles. Through 2028, Los Angeles has 164 conventions on the books with an expected economic impact of more than $2.3 billion. A study is being conducted to measure IAEE’s financial impact on the local economy.
dineL.A.'s Restaurant Week Returns
dineL.A. Restaurant Week, the biannual program presented by L.A. Tourism, returns Jan. 19 – Feb. 1, so be sure to save the dates. January's program encourages restaurant goers to "Resolve to Eat Better" in 2015 by exploring the vast dining scene that L.A. has to offer. More than 300 new and returning restaurants will open their doors to dineL.A. patrons for 14 days of fixed-price lunch and dinner menus showcasing their best dishes.
L.A. Tourism Hosts Agent Kai’s New Year’s Celebration
L.A. Tourism’s International Team continued a long-standing tradition of hosting local Japanese tour operator Agent Kai’s New Year’s Celebration at Trump National Golf Club on Jan. 6. The event was attended by more than two-dozen senior executive members from Ana Hallo USA, H.I.S., J-Pac, JTB USA, KNT, Meitetsu, Nippon Travel Americas, Japan National Tourist Organization and the Japanese Consulate, while a champagne toast was hosted by Cynthia Schmitt from Citadel Outlets. The program included an L.A. Tourism ‘What’s New’ presentation updating our guests on the latest in hotels, tours and attractions, transportation and shopping development. Japan is L.A.’s fourth-largest overseas market, with inbound travel slated to increase after new daily air service on Japan Airlines debuts from Osaka on March 20.
Affinity Market Ads Promote Winter Travel to L.A.
Within the overarching “Winter in L.A.” ad campaign launched in December, market-specific campaigns will target potential African-American and LGBT visitors in the cold weather regions of Chicago and New York throughout the month of January and into early February.
African-American visitors to L.A. spend 50 percent more than average L.A. visitors per trip, and LGBT visitors spend more than double. Taken together, these markets account for more than $4.1 billion in annual visitors spending in the local economy.
Since weather and culture are the top two reasons both African-American and LGBT travelers choose a destination, L.A. Tourism’s affinity-markets campaigns will emphasize these two assets for potential visitors to L.A.
Additionally, January marks the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and its three-day weekend, while February marks a three-day Presidents’ Day weekend whose Saturday is also Valentine’s Day, providing an ideal time for a romantic getaway. February is also Black History Month and includes L.A.’s Pan African Film Festival.
The African-American digital campaign is running on Orbitz.com as well as the Black Entertainment Television (BET) digital network and across Complex.com, a family of fashion, sports, entertainment, style and products websites that has the unique ability to reach one in three African-American adults who travel and engage in social media. The campaign will deliver 9 million media impressions to African-American adults over five weeks.
The LGBT digital campaign is running across the websites of Here Media (Out.com, Advocate.com, Gay.com), GayCities, the gay travel site Passportmagazine.com and the gay politics, culture and entertainment site TowleRoad.com, producing nearly 13 million media impressions over a five-week period.
Los Angeles ranks as the fifth most-popular domestic destination for LGBT visitors and the sixth most-popular for African-American visitors, attracting a total of almost 5 million visitors each year.
Ctrip's Best Tourism Awards Celebrate L.A. as Top Destination
The sixth-annual Ctrip Best Tourism Destination Awards ceremony was hosted by Ctrip and the China Tourism Academy in China’s Lijiang on Jan. 10 and included tourism boards from home and abroad, as well as tourism-related companies, institutions, media and tourism experts will be present at the ceremony. Ctrip Best Tourism Destination Awards represent the only national large-scale tourism destination selection that’s based on online voting, and includes millions of participants. Los Angeles placed in the Top 10 for Most Popular Overseas Tourism Destinations; Favorite Newly Rich (Tuhao) Destination; and Most Popular Holiday Travel Destination.
Winter in L.A.!
Shed your winter coat and warm up with Winter in L.A. You’ll discover the coolest sites, the warmest people and an endless itinerary of fun in the sun! In December, L.A. Tourism with the participation of TMD hotels launched the Winter in L.A. promotion designed to drive incremental room nights during L.A.’s softest visitation months. The media will highlight L.A.’s great weather, cultural events and outdoor activities. The promotion will run on discoverLosAngeles.com, Orbtiz.com and Hotels.com, through Feb. 6 with stay dates through Feb. 28.
L.A. IN THE NEWS
The LA Tourism PR Team has been working hard to keep L.A. and its members and partners in the news and on the minds of travelers around the globe. The PR Team has been rolling out coordinated media efforts, pitching and securing stories about L.A. and our members to top-tier consumer and travel trade publications in the U.S. and abroad. Here is a sampling of recent high-profile media coverage.
Attitude Magazine (UK) - January 2015
Click here to read full article.
Avianca Airlines Inflight Magazine (Columbia)- December 2014
Click here to read full article.
POST SPECIAL OFFERS ON DISCOVERLOSANGELES.COM
There couldn’t be a better time for L.A. Tourism members to post special offers on our website. L.A. Tourism is experiencing tremendous growth on the website DiscoverLosAngeles.com, and research studies indicate travelers base much of their decision-making on best deals and discounts available. If you are interested in posting a special offer, you can do so by accessing the member extranet via the re-launched portal. Click on the tab “web” and then “coupons” to enter special offer information. Special offers can be posted specific to travel trade professionals, meetings & conventions, and consumers. Please note that offers geared toward travel trade professionals and meetings & conventions should have at least a 12-month cycle as they will be made available to tour operators, as well as citywide and convention groups arriving to Los Angeles for as long as one year out.
MEMBER OPPORTUNITIES: DIGITAL ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES
L.A. Tourism is excited to announce the launch of digital advertising opportunities on discoverLosAngeles.com. With more than 10 million visitors to the site annually and a robust social-media following, this is a great opportunity to reach an engaged, targeted audience in a new way. As a member of L.A. Tourism, you will receive discounted rates on digital advertising. For more information, please contact Nikki McHale at nmchale@latourism.org.
MEMBER TIPS
Be sure to keep your listings up-to-date by logging in to the extranet frequently. Here, you can upload new photos, change your description and more! For questions on how to log in to the extranet, contact the Membership Team at membercommunications@latourism.org.