The Los Angeles Tourism Board is set to unveil its first standalone online training course for UK agents at World Travel Market.
The programme is due to be fully operational in January, and has been built on the same interactive digital platform used for the California STAR programme.
Modules about LA will continue to be featured within Visit California’s offering, but this is the first standalone programme for the city.
Other trade activity has included the creation of a range of ‘movie-quality’ videos featuring specific neighbourhoods and hotels, which is being made available for free for use on agents’ and operators’ websites.
Francine Sheridan, regional director for Europe and the Middle East, said the launch of the training and marketing collateral was well-timed as LA had largely bucked a downward trend from the UK.
She said: “The UK market is a mature one, and our objective is to grow visitation but also room nights, so we account for a greater share of trips to California.
“We are not naïve and understand that visitors will want to see more of the state, but we are delighted to see room nights per visitor increasing, which is reflective of both our airlift and the great value for money the city offers.”
Sheridan was speaking at Twickenham rugby stadium, as the tourism board hosted a range of trade partners at the the Los Angeles Rams’ second regular season NFL game in London.
She said: “Events like this are a great platform for us to showcase what visitors can experience in Los Angeles. We know that more people are travelling for experiences and going to a sporting event really falls into that.
“We now have two NFL teams, a brand new stadium being built ready for 2020 and the Superbowl in 2022, and with the Olympics also coming in 2028, it is a great story to be telling.”