Valley Bound : Cut-Rate Tours, Strong Yen Lure Japanese to Area of L.A. Where They Feel Safe

After a tough half-decade, tourism in the San Fernando Valley is on the upswing, buoyed in part by the perception that the Valley is safer than other parts of Los Angeles and an influx of big-spending Japanese travelers cashing in on the good yen-to-dollar exchange rate and bargain trip packages.

“The tendency has been to shift our customers into the Valley, into Universal Studios’ area,” said Yuichi Yokoyama, assistant general manager for Kintetsu International Express, Japan’s second-largest wholesale tour operations company. “During the peak vacation months, it is now hard for us to find enough hotel rooms in the Valley for our customers.”

Tourism figures here reflect that interest, along with the return of visitors whose memories of the 1992 riots, the Malibu fires of 1993 and last year’s Northridge earthquake have finally begun to fade.

And while most tourists still spend much of their time and money in other parts of the region, visitors to the Valley alone last year spent $681 million on shops, restaurants, hotels, entertainment and transportation, about 8% of Los Angeles County’s $9.5-billion tourism pie, according to statistics from the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau.

To these tourists and many travel agents, the Valley is beginning to represent a safer, increasingly diverse alternative to bleaker areas near LAX and Downtown.

“After the riots, people began to discover areas outside of Downtown, including the Valley, Pasadena and Santa Monica,” said John Poimiroo, director of tourism for the state of California. “The big tour operators, including Japanese tour companies, began moving bookings to hotels in those areas. And when those companies move, they move huge blocks of business.”

As the 1995 summer season dawns, Valley hotel occupancy rates--a major indicator of the strength of tourism--are a healthy 72% to 75%, according to PKF Consulting, a Los Angeles hospitality consulting company. That’s actually slightly lower than last year, when 80% of rooms were rented, but most of that business came from earthquake victims who needed temporary housing, as well as emergency services workers who came to help out after the temblor.

More than 4.8 million passengers passed through Burbank Airport last year, an all-time high.

And attendance at Universal Studios is back to where it was before the earthquake, said Robert K. Gault Jr., president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios Hollywood. In 1993, about 4.95 million people visited the park, according to Amusement Business magazine, up 3% over 1992, the result of attractions such as the “Backdraft” fire show and the popular “Back to the Future” ride. But in 1994, the park felt the effect of the quake, as attendance dropped to 4.6 million, according to the trade magazine’s estimates.

This year, “we’re basically flat,” Gault said. “We’re back where we were before the quake.”

Yet with the new “Casper--Behind the Screams” exhibit in full swing and the “Jurassic Park” water ride in the works for next summer, park attendance is poised to start growing again, Gault predicted.

At Six Flags Magic Mountain--the 12th largest amusement park in the country in 1994--attendance is up about 7% over last year, said park spokeswoman Bonnie Rabjohn. About 3.5 million people visited the park near Valencia in 1994, according to Amusement Business.

Ticket sales also are on the rise at other Valley stops, including the Autry Museum of Western Heritage and NBC Studios in Burbank. A spokesman for NBC said the ticket office is receiving about 25% more requests for tickets to see the “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” this year compared to last year.

“This looks like it will be a real good year for tourism in Los Angeles,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles. “All of a sudden, people are interested in coming here again. Our image has been rehabilitated.”

Thanks in part to the O. J. Simpson trial and popular TV shows like “Melrose Place” and “Baywatch,” Kyser said, “the sizzle is back in the L. A. area as a destination.”

Kyser predicted there would be about 4% growth in tourism in the region over last year, sparked in part by an increasing variety of activities. “You’ve got to constantly be improving what you’ve got to offer, and that’s what’s happening at places like Universal and Six Flags in particular.”

Tourism from Japan is on the rise as the strong yen puts the price of a Los Angeles vacation within reach for a rapidly growing number of Japanese, said tour operators and others. The favorable exchange rate comes at a fortuitous time for Japanese workers, who have recently begun to be granted more vacation time by their employers. In addition, fierce competition among Japanese travel agencies has driven down the cost of a trip abroad.

“It’s much less expensive,” said Yokoyama of Kintetsu. Yokoyama said Japanese tourists are taking advantage of cut-rate tours that can include visits to Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles for $1,200 to $1,500, including air fare.

“The price is lower because the competition is tougher,” Yokoyama said.

And when Los Angeles-bound Japanese tourists land at LAX or--if they’re coming from another U. S. city--Burbank Airport, many of them are boarding Valley-bound buses.

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The direct beneficiaries of the trend away from Downtown and airport-area hotels are Valley hotels like the Sheraton Universal, the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn and the Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel in Studio City.

“The market that has made an impact and an increase in occupancy is Japanese,” said Kathy Quillin, sales manager at Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel. “It has increased incredibly over last year.”

The jump in business occurred as tourists, especially Japanese, began looking for safe accommodations outside the Downtown areas, said Steve Scheck, general manager at the hotel. With memories of riots and the carjacking and murders of two Japanese students in San Pedro last year, Japanese tourists and others began staying at hotels in the Valley.

“I’ve actually turned some Japanese tour business away,” Scheck said. “We don’t have enough rooms in the peak summer months.”

Some Valley hotels have incorporated amenities appreciated by Japanese travelers. The Sportsmen’s Lodge began adding Japanese offerings to its menu about four months ago, and a 24-hour Japanese Assistance Center is now manned by a hotel attendant who speaks the language, Quillin said.

The Beverly Garland Holiday Inn, too, is riding high atop the wave of new tourism this year. Occupancy this year--already in the 80% range--is expected to reach, or possibly even exceed, last year’s rates, which were boosted by tourists who came to see World Cup soccer tournament games.

A big part of the tourist business at the Beverly Garland is from Pacific Rim countries, said Lana Baker-White, director of sales and marketing for the 255-room hotel.

To attract that business, the hotel markets its North Hollywood location on Vineland Avenue near Universal Studios as more suburban and less intimidating than other parts of Los Angeles.

“Our area has a safe, comfortable feel,” Baker-White said. “There’s less of a threat and fewer panhandlers.”

And to keep important customers such as the Japanese coming back, the hotel offers amenities including a 24-hour Japanese translation phone service and includes a Japanese information card in its welcome kit.

Universal Studios, partly owned by Japanese electronics giant Matsushita, also offers studio tours in Japanese and serves Japanese Bento box lunches and rice balls from stands in its food court.

Valley businesses catering to Japanese culture are well positioned, as tourism from Japan and other Pacific Rim countries grows.

Poimiroo, of the state office of tourism, said Japanese visitors to California increased by nearly 16% last year over 1993, while business from other Pacific Rim countries expanded by about 15%.

Japanese visitors tend to spend more per day while in California--about $135 per day--than visitors from any other country. Mexicans who travel to California by air spend about $121 per day; Germans unload $67 per diem, and travelers from the United Kingdom, $59, according to government tourism statistics.

“Japanese people like Los Angeles, and the U. S. West Coast,” said Kioko Nakajima, a tour guide from Torrance, as she shepherded a group of Japanese cosmetics sales women into nearby eateries during a tour of Universal Studios.

“They are starting to forget about the problems with crime, with floods, with earthquakes,” she said. “Now it’s changing. They have heard it is safe. They want to see movie stars, surfing, blue skies, bikinis and roller-blades.”

Estimated Performance of the San Fernando Valley Hotel Market

Visitor Expenditures: Percentage of the 22 million visitors to Los Angeles County who spent money in the San Fernando Valley in 1994:

Lodging: 7.3%

Meals: 9.9%

Shopping: 9.4%

Entertainment: 8.8%

Transportation: 0.9%

Total Spent: $681,000,000

Source: Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau