Tourism to Los Angeles County last year reached 91% of 2019's record-setting level, with 46.2 million visitors contributing $34.5 billion in economic impact.
Los Angeles achieved this despite the highest-spending international tourists making up only 9% of visitors, down from 15% in 2019.
Los Angeles Tourism CEO Adam Burke called reaching 91% of 2019 "one hell of a turnaround in a relatively short period of time."
"It's a good news story, but it's still being written," he said. "If you had told us 12 to 18 months ago that we would be where we are today, we would have been ecstatic. But international is going to take longer to fully recover. So, right now, it's great news that domestic leisure is leading the recovery process. But internationally, it's going to be somewhat of an uneven recovery."
Los Angeles Tourism expects nearly 50 million visitors this year, or 98% of 2019's level. Hotel demand inched even closer to pre-pandemic numbers last year, reaching nearly 30 million room nights sold in 2022 -- 96.3% of 2019's record level -- and are expected to surpass 2019 this year with 31 million room nights -- 102% percent of 2019's level.
Room nights are being driven by the 7,400 hotel rooms added to the Los Angeles market since February 2020, including the recently opened Conrad Los Angeles and the Moxy and AC hotels in downtown L.A. New attractions include Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The Los Angeles International Airport underwent a $15 billion modernization.
This year is also what Los Angeles Tourism calls "a year of centennials," including the iconic Hollywood sign, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Warner Bros. Studios and the Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles.
Burke said that throughout the pandemic, L.A. maintained an advantage by keeping seven of its overseas tourism offices open and operational, giving the city a "first-mover advantage to increase market share."
"Every place I've gone, what I've heard is the travel trade has been incredibly appreciative of the fact that we kept our offices open because they felt like they still had support in the early days of the pandemic and in the initial stages of the recovery process," he said.