Travelers flying into Los Angeles last weekend were greeted by a devastating sight: clouds of smoke and bright red-orange flames dotting the city lights.
The stark panorama of the wildfire and the shocking, ubiquitous video also starkly contrasted. Images of sun-kissed beaches It's Hollywood glamor that LA relies on to attract flocks of tourists that pump billions of dollars into the local economy every year.
As firefighters begin to contain the blaze that ravaged Pacific Palisades, parts of Malibu and the mountain town of Altadena, tourism officials are looking for signs of what short- and long-term toll the disaster will take on L.A.'s resilience. A tourist spot.
“We're very nervous,” said Jackie Filla, president and CEO of the Hotel Assn. Los Angeles.
“The first blush looks obviously there's a rapid drop in short-term bookings – people who need to be here this week and next week. We're also seeing some long-term decline – not too much, but it's definitely a trend we're concerned about.”
By some measure, tourism in L.A. was finally fully recovered because of the fire Hit by COVID-19. In 2023, the last full year for which figures are available, Los Angeles generated $40.4 billion in total tourism revenue, a record. That included 49.1 million viewers, a 3% decline from 2019's pre-pandemic high.
Filla noted that no L.A. County hotels or major tourist attractions were damaged in the fire, and major conferences and conventions — a vital part of the tourism industry — are scheduled to go on as planned. The row includes the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, whose leadership voted Wednesday night to hold their annual meeting in downtown L.A. and donate $100,000 to relief efforts.
Another major event, the Grammy Awards, is still scheduled for February 2 at Downtown's Crypto.com Arena.
In normal times, the organizers and participants of these meetings and award shows would book rooms without hesitation. However, with tens of thousands of people now displaced by the fires, the equation has become more complicated. “We're monitoring our conferences and conventions very closely,” Filla said, because “everyone is concerned about not taking rooms from evacuees, but we have the ability to do both.”
Occupancy at Los Angeles hotels rose from 59.3% to 65% in the week ending Jan. 11 as the Palisades and Eaton fires spread, “due to fire-induced displacement demand,” lodging industry analyst Costar found. The biggest surge came in the first three days of the fire, when average daily rates at luxury hotels in the region jumped 22.7% from last year — likely driven by a move to generally more expensive rooms. Slow down time, said Isaac Collazo, the company's senior director of analytics.
The city of Los Angeles has approximately 44,000 hotel rooms; In the district, about 100,000. LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday that about 88,000 people were under evacuation orders.
It remains to be seen whether the region's recovery will be like New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Napa Valley after a major wildfire in 2017, or Maui's continued recovery effort after a devastating wildfire in 2023.
After Katrina, travel to New Orleans fell to less than half of its previous level, then gradually recovered. It wasn't until 2016 that the number of visitors to the city returned to pre-Katrina levels.
Napa and Sonoma counties, by contrast, Recovered relatively quickly In the fall of 2017, the fire burned more than 110,000 acres and killed 24 people. Most of the vineyards and tourism infrastructure were undamaged by the fire, and hotel occupancy and revenue in early 2018 were ahead of the previous year, according to the local tourism body. Visit Napa Valley. Local and state officials said they helped the recovery with aggressive marketing, including spending by Visit California, the state's main marketing organization.
On Maui, a fire in August 2023 claimed 102 lives and leveled much of the town of Lahaina, a major tourist destination. Recovery is underway. Visitor arrivals in November 2024 were about 15% lower than their levels in 2022. Authorities are now working hard to bring back tourists after an initial period of mixed messages in which some called for travelers to stay away as the community tried to rebuild.
Carolyn Pieta, president and CEO of Visit California, the state's leading tourism organization, said in a statement: “We need to ensure that travelers' visits help — not hurt — the community and that the city's hotels and businesses are ready to welcome. They are.”
“We're already hearing that restaurants and hotels are affected,” Beteta acknowledged, adding that his team is working on a recovery campaign, stressing that “everyone, especially Californians, should consider planning a trip to Los Angeles.” Support its economic recovery.”
“It's too early to understand what the implications will be,” said Adam Burke, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, also known as Discover Los Angeles, but until then, “we're trying to use. Our platform to help those directly affected.
In the long term, Burke said, he will closely monitor data from Internet searches such as international bookings, airport arrivals and hotel occupancy to make Los Angeles a destination. In a typical year, hotel tax revenues add more than $300 million to the city's general fund — money that helps fuel recovery efforts.
Despite the devastation of the fire, most of the region's best-known tourist attractions were not damaged by the fire. While many parks and museums have been closed due to air quality or other concerns, many have reopened Griffith ParkThe LA Zoo And Audrey Museum of the American West On Thursday.
Overall consumer demand typically declines after a natural disaster, as fewer visitors to an area lead to reduced spending on leisure, hospitality and entertainment, said Raphaelle Gauvin-Coulombe, assistant professor of economics at Middlebury. Authors of a study last year analyzed satellite data to understand fire activity and its effect on labor markets in counties across the United States.
Leisure and hospitality is a very important sector for L.A. County, accounting for about 13.5% of the workforce, higher than the county average of 6%, Gauvin-Coulombe said. However, he noted that places with more diverse economies — like Los Angeles — tend to be more resilient than those that rely heavily on one sector.
The disaster could force the industry to contend with a shrinking labor force in the region, he said, adding that the fires could cause an exodus. He added that the slowdown in job growth would last for three years after the fire.
“When people travel, they consider everything,” said Ray Patel, president of Northeast Los Angeles Hoteliers. “It is visible to the guest. They might go, 'Oh, it's more fire.' ”
It's an understandable urge, he said: “We all want to put our heads down at night and make sure we're safe.”
As Los Angeles looks to stabilize its tourism industry after the fire, it can count on an important asset that many cities lack — its tourism board has staff in seven offices overseas, including in Australia, the United Kingdom, India and China.
At a moment when dramatic TV images threaten to obscure the realities of LA geography, Burke said, “We're already working in real time on the travel trade,” aiming to “educate people around the world about why it's safe to travel more responsibly. To Los Angeles.”