Visit California says the Golden State’s tourism industry grew 32 percent in 2022 and that the state is poised to pass pre-pandemic records for visitor spending, employment and tax generation.
“I’m happy to report California tourism has bounced back from the devastating human and economic toll of the pandemic and continues to provide value for all Californians,” said Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California, the state’s tourism marketing organization. “California’s iconic destinations are again welcoming visitors from around the world, growing tourism’s economic contributions beyond 2019 levels and putting hundreds of thousands back to work.”
Visit California officials recently told Travelweek that Canada’s visitation forecast is predicted to reach 99% of pre-pandemic levels in 2023 and 110% in 2024. As of December 2022, 93% of airlift from Canada to California has recovered.
Explore the beaches of Carlsbad, California on a Pedego electric bike. JIM BYERS PHOTO
Los Angeles Tourism, the official destination marketing and sales organization for Los Angeles, has announced that the city welcomed 46.2m visitors in 2022, including 41.9m domestic and 4.3m international visitors. That means total visitation was 91.1% recovered to 2019 levels. L.A. Tourism said it expects 50m visitors this year, which would be 98% of 2019 levels.
Los Angeles attracted 1,440,000 Mexico residents in 2022. Canada was second in terms of incoming visitation, with 590,000.
The East Point Lighthouse on PEI. JIM BYERS PHOTO
THAT AND THIS
GlobalNews has a good item on the future (or lack thereof) of the long-proposed Pickering Airport outside of Toronto. As crowded as Pearson can be, I personally think it’s a terrible idea to pave over more of our fast-disappearing farm land in southern Ontario, some of the best soil in Canada … CBC News says summer sporting events in Prince Edward Island are expected to boost tourism in both Charlottetown and Summerside. I’ll be there in late June and am really looking forward to my first visit in six or seven years … Reuters says shares of Air Canada surged 11.6% last Friday as the airline raised its full-year forecast for core profit … Kiplinger reports that Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was once again the world’s busiest last year, with passenger volume of about 93.7 million people. By contrast, Toronto Pearson was at just 35.6 million last year … Forbes has a nice item about smaller towns to visit in the U.S., including Lake Placid, New York and Del Mar, California.
