THE sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles may be one of the biggest draws on the US West Coast for the UK market – but LA County wants to change that.
The area actually covers 45,000 square miles – twice the size of Switzerland – and encompasses not only the city and its suburbs but also stretches from Malibu to Long Beach. En route its takes in such places as Santa Monica, Hollywood, Pasadena, Marina del Rey, and Universal Studios.
The LA Convention and Visitors Bureau aims to get the bigger picture across with a substantial investment in UK specialist agent training on the campus of the University of California in Los Angeles, beginning in September. It is the task of new bureau director Europe, Francine Sheridan, to set up and develop the LA Travel Academy (Travel Weekly May 24), which plans to host 200 UK agents by July 2000.
Sheridan, who was appointed to open LA’s first London office in May, said: “Everyone is aware of LA but we want to educate the market on the diversity of things to do and see within the county – it is not just a city destination. We get nearly 500,000 UK visitors each year but we need to increase the length of stay.”
The LA Travel Academy training programme is a partnership between the bureau, four scheduled airlines serving the London-LA route and four US specialist operators.
Each carrier will fly 50 agents in two separate trips to LA for four days/five nights of intensive campus product training and site inspections. Every morning is spent at UCLA followed by afternoon visits to various destinations.
The first trip is being arranged for late September, with the rest to be completed by July of next year. Airline and tour operator partners are American Airlines and Premier Holidays; British Airways and BA Holidays; United Airlines and United Vacations; and Virgin Atlantic, which is likely to be partnered with Virgin Holidays although this is not yet confirmed.
Sheridan said: “The exercise is attracting a lot of interest and will give a unique overview of LA County, with its attractions, beach destinations, cities and hotels.
“There will be no charge to participants, who will be provided with quality accommodation, flights, meals and other hospitality.”
She added: “We will not be attaching any promotion or incentive in order for an agent to qualify for a place. Each will be handpicked by the various partners on a nationwide basis.
“It is a serious training scheme from which we hope to see an increase in bookings for LA as a whole. The exercise will be reviewed in July 2000 when we hope to be able to increase the base of LA County Specialists.”
LA CVB is to appoint a UK public relations company to undertake a consumer awareness programme alongside the agent scheme. The third part of its UK office strategy will be to develop various co-operative promotional activities with tour operators featuring LA County.