L.A.’s Fine, Just Ask Its 44 Million Visitors

Los Angeles is well on the way to achieving its target of 50 million visitors by 2020, according to Ernest Wooden, CEO of the LA Tourism and Convention Board.

He told an IPW press conference that the city of angels boasted more than 44 million arrivals last year – up 5% from 2013 – and raked in more than $18 billion in direct visitor spend.

Wooden said his destination is in the midst of an “unbelievable transformation,” with more than $8 billion in private investment, part of which will go to the construction of 39 new hotels with 8,000 additional rooms in the mid-term.

Public infrastructure spending is also in the $8 billion range, revealed Wooden, who pointed to a new metro line that will link downtown LA with Santa Monica this summer and ongoing work that will connect all the way to LAX by 2020.