Skift Take
Attracting tourists to LA is a task that's been completed tenfold by the movie industry but, as an international destination, every global and local topic and trend impacting tourism plays itself out in some form in the city.
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Editor’s Note: Skift is publishing a series of interviews with CEOs of destination marketing organizations where we discuss the future of their organizations and the evolving strategies for attracting visitors. Read all the interviews as they come out here.
This continues our series of CEO interviews that began with online travel CEOs in Future of Travel Booking (now an e-book), and continued with hotel CEOs in the Future of the Guest Experience series (which is also an e-book).
Los Angeles’ recent tourism success is a mix of luck, location, and logic.
As one of the major international gateways to the U.S., the city is benefitting from the growth in global tourism more than most and a combination of its location and cultural ties to China have made it the first stop on most Chinese travelers’ bucket lists.
Los Angeles has also strategically positioned itself to take advantage of these trends by teaching business owners how to work with Chinese customers, building awareness of Los Angeles’ sometimes overlooked neighborhoods and attractions, and fostering partnerships with travel stakeholders on a state and national level.
In one of Skift's most in-depth tourism interviews yet, we speak with Los Angeles Tourism Board CEO Ernie Wooden Jr. on a broad range of topics including his lessons in attracting Chinese tourists, how to capitalize on tourists’ desires to “live like a local,” and the future of destination marketing organizations.
An edited version of our interview covering everything from Airbnb to Brand USA can be read below:
Skift: Every destination wants more Chinese tourists but Los Angeles has benefited from the growth in outbound Chinese travel more than most. What are some of the lessons that you learned in marketing to Chinese tourists and catering to them once they arrive. What works and what doesn’t work?
Ernest Wooden Jr.: China is the hot subject on everybody’s mind, but it’s been on our minds in Los Angeles for quite a long time. We were one of the first destination marketing organizations to open an office in China in 2006. We had one of the few licenses granted to a city to merchandize directly to the Chinese market. Most organizations work through representatives in China, but we have our own employees in Beijing and Shanghai. We intend to open a third office in Guangzhou within the next six months.
China is a very unique market and w
