THE LOS ANGELES EARTHQUAKE : Temblor Has Little Effect on Tourism, Agents Report

The Los Angeles earthquake appeared Thursday to have had no effect on tourists’ plans to travel to and from the city.

Major airlines reported no more cancellations or no-shows than usual. Hotel chains, travel agencies and auto rental firms reported that customers were not changing their travel plans as a result of the temblor.

Attendance at Southern California tourist attractions was down during the day, however, with the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu reporting one-third fewer visitors than normal. Three bus tours were canceled, spokeswoman Denise Yarfitz said.

Tour Down a Thousand

About 4,500 people took the popular Universal Studios tour Thursday, down from the normal 5,500, reservations coordinator Jim Schafer said.

In Orange County, a spokesman at Knott’s Berry Farm said attendance was off 30%.

But Disneyland officials said crowds were about average.

“This is a pretty light day for us anyway, with school in session and it being a weekday,” spokesman Bob Roth said.

At the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, 10 of 800 rooms occupied as of Wednesday emptied the following morning as guests checked out because of the earthquake, spokeswoman Janine Fiddelke said. But officials at 20 Los Angeles area hotels surveyed said there were few cancellations.

“We were surprised that the guests didn’t really panic,” said Holiday Inn-Hollywood spokeswoman Kathy Thomas. “Some of them requested to be move to the lower floors, but no one left.”

Travel agencies also said there was no panic.

An employee at the Travel Hut travel agency in Westbury, N.Y., reported “no cancellations or change of plans for travel going out to the West Coast today.”

‘No Rush’ Out of Town

“There has been no rush of people wanting to get out of town,” said Jan Duuring spokesman for Thomas Cook Travel USA in Long Beach.

Some travel agencies, however, are preparing for the possibility that travelers may become stranded or otherwise inconvenienced. A New York spokeswoman for American Express Co. said the company’s locations in Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa will remain open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

One hotel reported that it actually benefited from the quake. The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel said a woman in Pasadena reserved a room for the night because she feared aftershocks.