The US city of Los Angeles experienced a record-breaking year for tourism in 2011, with a historic number of visitors to the city.
More than 26 million people travelled to the City of Angels last year – an increase of 4.2 per cent on the number of overnight visitors recorded in 2010.
And spending in the city also had a record-breaking year, with visitors accounting for more than $15 billion in expenditures.
A total of $15.2 billion was spent by visitors in Los Angeles last year, an increase of 8 per cent on the previous year and the highest the city has ever seen.
“This year’s impressive growth in tourism is great news for our local businesses that rely on tourist spending to make their companies both successful and profitable,” said Mark Liberman, president of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“The increase was experienced in all areas of our city as indicated by increased occupancy at hotels and attendance at restaurants, attractions and cultural institutions.”
The boom in numbers and spending was driven largely by international visitors to the city. The number of international visitors rose to 5.9 million in 2011 – a 7 per cent increase on the previous year.
There was also a significant increase in spending by foreign visitors, up 12 per cent from the previous year to more than £5 billion in 2011.
“This is significant for the LA economy as one out of ten jobs is related to tourism and the industry employs 364,000 persons,” added Mr Liberman.
Australia remained LA’s biggest foreign market in 2011, for the second year in a row. Australia now has more seat capacity for arriving flights to the city than any other country.
“LA is the gateway to the Pacific Rim and we are doing everything we can to strengthen our ties to the region,” said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“In 2006, Los Angeles became the first American city to open a tourism office in Beijing. In the five years after the office opened, the number of visitors from China to Los Angeles increased by 150 per cent.”
(Image: nickstone333)
