Tourism Tops Olympics Era

The Los Angeles area attracted a record 46 million visitors in 1985, a 6.5% increase in tourism from the year before when the city was host to the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, the Greater Los Angeles Visitors & Convention Bureau reported.

Those visitors spent an estimated $10.7 billion, up 16.3% from the $9.2 billion spent in 1984.

Bureau Executive Vice President James W. Hurst predicted that tourism will rise 3% in Los Angeles during the first half of 1986 because of the declining strength of the dollar against foreign currencies, which would make a U.S. trip less expensive for foreign visitors, and an aggressive marketing campaign started by the bureau in 1985.

In 1985, the average visitor group spent $87 per day or about $36 per person per day based on an average of 2.4 persons per group, the bureau said. That compares to $81 spent by the average visitor group in 1984, or $35 per person based on an average of 2.3 persons per group.

A poll of visitors found that 59% of those surveyed during 1985 came to Los Angeles for pleasure or to vacation, 22% came to visit relatives or friends, 12% were on business trips and 5% attended a convention. Many visitors said Los Angeles’ “many attractions” is the main reason they are planning return trips to town, the bureau said.