For the seventh straight year, Los Angeles County has set a record for drawing big-spending tourists.
The
county hosted 48.3 million visitors in 2017, a 2.2% increase over the
record 47.3 million tourists in 2016, according to Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti, who announced the fresh record during a news conference
at Los Angeles International Airport.
The visitor increase was
fueled by a 6.3% surge in travelers from South Korea, a 6% jump in
tourists from China, and a 5.5% improvement in visitors from Canada,
the
Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board reported.
Garcetti and
Ernest Wooden, chief executive of the Los Angeles Tourism &
Convention Board, attributed the increase in visitors to a campaign
launched last year called “Everyone is Welcome.”
The
campaign was meant to be a response to President Trump’s
anti-immigration rhetoric and his travel bans, which some industry
leaders say is scaring off international visitors.
In contrast to
L.A.’s visitor increase, overall international visitation to the U.S.
dropped 4% in the first six months of 2017, according to the latest data
from the National Travel and Tourism Office.
The
U.S. Travel Assn., a trade group for the country’s travel industry,
said it plans to respond to the drop by forming a coalition with other
U.S. industries.
