Asian Crisis Clouds Local Tourism Picture
Despite the threat posed by economic turmoil in Asia, Southern California tourism officials on Friday expressed cautious optimism about the industry’s prospects for 1998.
The number of Asians visiting Southern California leaped 21% last year to 2.4 million, out of a total of 45 million visitors. That number could drop significantly as a result of economic turmoil in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
“It will be expensive for the people of those countries to travel to the U.S.,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., in a speech at the Southern California Visitor Industry Outlook conference.
He said Southern California would have to work harder at making overseas visitors comfortable if it was to avoid a fall-off.
“We get an F- for very poor on signage on the freeways,” said Kyser. “One of my co-workers ran into a Chinese couple downtown who wanted to know where they could exchange currency. The banks exist, but not enough of them have signs saying so. We have rail mass transit, but there is not enough advertising to let people know that.”
John Lu, a Glendale-based travel-industry consultant for Russia and Asia, echoed Kyser’s view, and said that if Southland hoteliers wanted to keep their grip on Asian travelers, they’d have to hire more Asian-speaking employees.
Travel agents and hotel managers attending the conference were also concerned that a looming hotel shortage could hurt business.
Bruce Baltin of PKF Consulting predicted a 71% occupancy rate for 1998, a 2.5% increase over 1997, and an increase in the average room rate to $106, $9 more than the previous year.
The increase in room rates should make hotel managers giddy in the short run, but according to Baltin, “leisure guests are very price-sensitive,” which means guests may find other ways to stay near their favorite sites.
Despite problems, industry officials expect Southland tourism to grow 2% to 3% in the coming year.
Last year, tourists in California spent $58.3 billion. The tourism industry generated 684,000 jobs with a payroll of $12.1 billion.
Because of its size, Kyser believes the tourism industry could take center stage in curing some of the state’s ills.
“People are talking about finding jobs for people coming off welfare; this industry can be important for that,” Kyser said.
