A Note From Adam - November 2021

Greetings Everyone, 

After 20 long months, November 8th brings a major milestone that we’ve all been waiting for – the return of international guests to our City of Angels. As of that date, international travelers will be able to enter the United States by providing both proof of full vaccination and a negative COVID test taken with 72 hours of arrival. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues at the U.S. Travel Association, who have been consistently advocating that – with the appropriate safeguards in place – international travel could responsibly resume, reinvigorating one of our nation’s largest service exports.

It's simply impossible to overstate the importance of international visitation to our local economy. As you know, these guests have longer lengths of stay and higher overall spending than any other customer segment. In fact, while international travelers represented nearly 1 in 4 overnight guests in 2019, they generated 50% of all overnight visitor spending!

Having just returned from a week in London – where I joined our colleagues from Brand USA and other major destinations for a series of meetings with consumer media, the global travel trade and major air carriers – I can tell you first-hand that there is tremendous pent-up demand for the L.A. experience! In fact, Tourism Economics recently revised their 2021 forecast and are projecting that the November 8th reopening will bring an additional one million visitors to Los Angeles this year alone, injecting an incremental $1 billion into our local economy. 

For full details on the new international travel policy, I recommend you utilize this resource from Brand USA. 

Thank you for your ongoing partnership, and for all that you do to welcome guests from around the world to our City of Angels! With this latest news, our comeback is looking better than ever!

All my best,

Adam Burke

President/CEO

Los Angeles Tourism