Travel industry gathers in LA for IPW convention

The largest inbound travel trade show is back in Los Angeles for the first time in a dozen years.

Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board is hosting the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW until May 7.

The Los Angeles Convention Center will serve as the main backdrop for IPW.

There are also key events being held throughout LA, including the Getty Center, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park and Universal Studios Hollywood.

Los Angeles Tourism, in collaboration with Tourism Economics, announced its 2023 year-end tourism performance, with 49.1 million total visitors which is 97% recovered on benchmark year 2019.

It generated $40.4 billion in total business sales.

“Tourism continues to be an indispensable economic engine for Los Angeles, impacting the livelihoods of more than 530,000 tourism-related careers for Angelenos,” said Adam Burke, President & CEO, Los Angeles Tourism.

“We are privileged to host IPW this year, a watershed moment for Los Angeles’ tourism industry. We are confident that LA will see the benefits of IPW for years to come.”

This year’s IPW show attendance will exceed 2019 levels for the first time since the pandemic and is expected to generate more than $5.5 billion in future travel to the United States.

Nearly 100,000 prescheduled business appointments will take place, connecting 1,700+ global travel buyers and press with 5,700 travel professionals from nearly 70 countries.

“Los Angeles is a perfect city to host IPW and the thousands of travel professionals who are building back international travel to the United States,” said Geoff Freeman, President and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.

“It will lead to years of new visitation and benefits for the city, the state of California and the country overall.”

While domestic visitation has led LA’s tourism comeback, overseas visitation continues to see a more staggered recovery, with another 24 months expected until every source market reaches full pre-pandemic levels.

LA Tourism has a year-round presence in 15 global markets across four continents.

This includes seven of its own LA Tourism overseas offices in the UK, Australia, China (four locations) and India.

During IPW, Los Angeles hosts several events, including the Media Brunch on Saturday at The Getty and Opening Night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The Closing Event is held at Universal Studios Hollywood on May 7.

LA Tourism continues to promote LA globally with its ‘Now Playing’ global advertising campaign, which released its most current and largest investment ever in February 2024.

It targets visitors from the US, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, France, Mexico, South Korea and the United Kingdom.

Since the campaign’s launch, ‘Now Playing’ has generated more than $2 billion in incremental direct spending in Los Angeles.

The campaign is expanding this month to reach drive and short-haul markets such as San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Phoenix and within Los Angeles to drive hotel room demand for major events throughout Los Angeles County.

LA Tourism Meetings and Conventions welcomed 21 citywide conventions to the Convention Center in 2023, drawing more than 390,000 attendees and generating nearly 182,000 room nights for LA-area hotels.

To learn more about IPW: www.ipw.com

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