Earlier this month, the country’s tourism community celebrated the power of the travel industry during National Travel and Tourism Week. To coincide with this event, I, alongside fellow LATCB Board members, delivered fantastic news to the Los Angeles City Council with regards to record-breaking visitation, visitor spending and tourism job growth.

It was another banner year for L.A.’s tourism industry as we welcomed an astounding 44.2 million visitors in 2014, a final total which exceeds previously reported estimates. Our total domestic visitation reached 37.7 million visitors and international visitation, an ever-important segment of the market, reached new levels at 6.5 million visitors.

Our visitors directly spent $19.6 billion last year on hotels, attractions, shopping, dining and much more – an increase of 6.8% from the previous year. This spend generated $30.2 billion in total economic impact including the induced and indirect benefits. You’ll be able to read the rest of the important figures in this month’s News & Notes section.

These achievements, along with our accelerated marketing efforts made possible by the Tourism Marketing District, firmly position Los Angeles towards reaching our goal of 50 million visitors by 2020.

Together, our LATCB members form the very heart of tourism in Los Angeles, and these impressive economic impact numbers, as well as Los Angeles’ fourth consecutive record-breaking year of visitation, are due in large part to your professional and commitment to providing the highest possible levels of service. Your pride in your work and in your city shows, and is a major part of creating the Los Angeles experience for our visitors.

I encourage all of our LATCB members to join us for our Member Mixers – they are a great opportunity to network with a wide range of tourism and hospitality related business from the L.A. area. Be sure to check the “What’s Coming” section of the newsletter for details and to RSVP.

These are just a few of the many updates on L.A. Tourism and our industry that we’re sharing with you in this month’s newsletter. As always, LATCB will be here, working on behalf of all of our members and partners to keep the world coming to Los Angeles.

Best wishes,

Ernest Wooden Jr.
President & CEO
Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board