The chief executive of Los Angeles Tourism has thanked the trade for its support and hopes the city will still see an increase in visitor numbers from the UK and Ireland despite last month’s wildfires, which ravaged parts of the city.
Adam Burke said plans were underway for a publicity campaign to launch in March as he reiterated the importance of the visitor economy to the city’s recovery.
“From a tourism perspective, we are very fortunate that most of the city was not affected,” he said. “It is heartbreaking to see the impact on the communities affected, but we are very much open for business and the best way we can help the recovery process is to bring in visitors.”
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Burke said the fires that had impacted areas including Pacific Palisades were almost entirely contained, and stressed that the travel trade, including suppliers and frontline travel sellers, had an important role to play in ensuring misconceptions about the scale of the effects on the city were dispelled.
He said those efforts would also be key to achieving a target of 400,000 visitors from the UK and Ireland in 2025 – up from about 350,000 in 2024.
“We initially projected between 400,000 and 425,000 visitors for the coming year, and I hope we will still come in at the lower end of that range and still see a positive increase,” Burke added.
“Our team led by Francine Sheridan in London has been in regular contact with our trade partners as we understand the importance of this selling period for spring and summer visits.”
Burke said consumer marketing was initially paused as the fires took hold, although trade missions continued as planned.
The tourist board is liaising with state body Visit California, which is due to launch a campaign in the coming weeks to “entice people and show LA is open for business”.
“One concern we have heard is that people are worrying about taking hotel stock being used by people displaced by the fires, but that is categorically not the case,” Burke said.
“We are now seeing a sense of normalisation, and with our key tourist attractions not impacted, our focus now is on supporting the recovery process.”
Watch Adam Burke’s message to the UK trade below.