LOS ANGELES—Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office announced Wednesday, January 10 that the Los Angeles economy surged throughout 2017 and broke all-time tourism, Port cargo, and LAX passenger records.
Mayor Garcetti revealed the news during a ceremony at Los Angeles International Airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal. He was joined by Councilmember Joe Buscaino and members of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles convention & Tourism Development Department.
“We are powering Los Angeles’ economy to new heights every year because we know that lasting prosperity means investing boldly in jobs, opportunity, and growth,” said Mayor Garcetti.
The Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board reports that the city was host to more than 48 million visitors in 2017, an increase of 2 percent from the year before. This marks the seventh consecutive year of record-breaking tourism growth. Mayor Garcetti has stated a goal of welcoming 50 million visitors a year by 2020.
The Tourism Board’s “Everyone is Welcome” campaign – a marketing venture highlighting diversity and inclusion in the city- is credited with bolstering international tourism to a record-breaking 7.1 million visitors in 2017. This coincides with a record set by Los Angeles World Airports: 84.9 million travelers passed through LAX last year. According to Garcetti, that is the most ever for the airport.
Mayor Garcetti revealed, the Port of Los Angeles broke its own previous records. The Port shipped more than 9.3 million 25 foot Equivalent Units, the highest number of any port in the Western Hemisphere. Other areas of the economy in the Los Angeles region have also been doing well.
“Since Mayor Garcetti took office in 2013, the city [of Los Angeles] has created more than 175,000 new jobs, cut the unemployment rate by more than half, and permitted more than 164,000 new businesses,” states a press release from the Mayor’s Office.
