LOS ANGELES — Today marks the opening day of U.S. Travel Association’s IPW, which for the first time in 12 years takes place in the city of Los Angeles.

As the United States’ largest inbound travel trade show, IPW runs from May 3-7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, with key events being held throughout the city including the Getty Center, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park and Universal Studios Hollywood. 

This year’s show attendance will exceed 2019 levels for the first time since the pandemic and is expected to generate more than US$5.5 billion in future travel to the United States. Throughout the show nearly 100,000 prescheduled business appointments will take place, connecting over 1,700 global travel buyers and press with 5,700 travel professionals representing nearly 70 countries.

“With its incredible diversity and global accessibility, Los Angeles is a perfect city to host U.S. Travel’s 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’s been more than a decade since this signature event has convened in LA, and it will lead to years of new visitation and benefits for the city, the state of California and the country overall.”

Hosting IPW comes on the heels of a stellar year of tourism for Los Angeles. In its 2023 year-end tourism performance, the city welcomed 49.1 million total visitors – 97% recovered to 2019, the city’s benchmark year – including 43.3 million domestic visitors (100% recovered to 2019 levels) and 5.8 million international visitors (nearly 79% recovered to 2019), $40.4 billion in total business sales (106.9% of 2019 levels) and more than 530,000 tourism-related careers for Angelenos. Hotel demand grew to 30.2 million total room-nights sold last year, with hotel occupancy rising to 71.7% and average daily hotel rates reaching $198. 

Visitors to LA hail from the United States (43.3 million) as well as from key international markets including the following Top 10 in 2023: Mexico (1.71 million); Canada (780,000); China (400,000); the United Kingdom (310,000); South Korea (269,000); Australia (266,000); France (264,000); Japan (230,000); Germany (190,000); and India (110,000).

Los Angeles Tourism continues to focus on international tourism recovery. While domestic visitation has led the destination’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 maintains a year-round presence in 15 global markets across four continents, including seven of its own LA Tourism overseas offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, China (four locations) and India.

During IPW, Los Angeles will host several events, including the Media Brunch on Saturday, May 4, at The Getty, in partnership with PST ART: Art & Science Collide; Opening Night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, also on Saturday, May 4; and the Closing Event at Universal Studios Hollywood on Tuesday, May 7. The Los Angeles Convention Center will serve as the backdrop of the tradeshow itself, with Visit California providing programming at California Plaza.

“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. “LA is one of the world’s most exciting, inclusive and ever-evolving destinations, and we are privileged to host IPW this year, a watershed moment for Los Angeles’ tourism industry. With sustained global interest in the City of Angels, and with more demand generators now than ever before, we are confident that LA will see the benefits of IPW for years to come.”   

For more information about IPW go to www.ipw.com.

For more information about travel to Los Angeles, go to https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/.