Insight on Hollywood’s Big Issues
Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge recently addressed the business community about Insights on Hollywood’s Big Issues during the Hollywood Chamber’s annual luncheon at Avalon.
The always dynamic LaBonge shared images of Hollywood experiences in the past year and showed a video clip welcoming everybody to enjoy some of the hidden treasures in Hollywood such as the area’s great assets and numerous local studios, theatres, entertainment venues, Lake Hollywood and the world-famous Hollywood Sign.
LaBonge noted that Tourism is currently the number one industry in Los Angeles. In 2010, there were some 25.7-million visitors to Los Angeles, bringing in $13.1-billion. Australia sends the most tourists to Los Angeles than any other overseas country due to their direct air service to LAX and the strong Australian economy followed by Japan and the UK. “But the greatest potential tourist growth is China which has more people with the means to travel than any other country in the world!”
On domestic tourism, LaBonge said that most visitors came from San Francisco, with San Diego and Palm Springs not far behind. He mentioned the upcoming “Powwow” International Travel Show coming to Los Angeles in April 2012. He also said that The Tourism Marketing District, which adds a
1.5 percent fee to the bill of visitors staying at a Los Angeles hotel of 50 or
more rooms will add $10-million to efforts to market Los Angeles to the world. “LA Inc. will likely have about $20-million in their marketing budget this fiscal year. Compare that to Las Vegas which spends 160-million dollars!”
On filming in Los Angeles, LaBonge said that Film, TV and Commercial production were down a little more than 13 percent during the second-quarter of this year. He stressed the importance of doing more to encourage production companies to film right here in Los Angeles. The newest
BATMAN movie has been shooting around Los Angeles in recent weeks, bringing high production values and lots of money to local businesses. “I’m proud to say that the 4th City Council District that I represent is the Number One film location in Los Angeles – most of that is in Griffith Park. And in the secondquarter of this year, there were almost 1,200 Permitted Production Days in the 4th District alone on nearly 700 locations, generating almost 500 film permits.
On airports, LaBonge commanded the modernization of the Los Angeles International Airport which makes it easy for people to come to Los Angeles. The total passengers hit 35.9-million, 5.6 percent more traffic increase year to date from July 2010. Domestic flights hit 26.2 million accounting nearly75 percent of flights versus 9.7 million flights from oversees. “Bob Hope Airport in Burbank is also a key gateway to the greater Los Angeles area for both commuters and tourists with 1.2 million passengers arriving mostly from domestic flights.
On Union Station, LaBonge said that in 2010 1.5 million AMTRAK tickets were purchased. On Port of Los Angeles, LaBonge noted that it is the nation’s busiest container port. The Annual Gross Revenue at the Port of Los Angeles has averaged more than $400-million for the past several years. The lion’s share of our goods (92.4 percent) comes in from Asia, with China the number-one importer in both volume and value of goods. “The Port of Los Angeles is one of the key gateways into the United States for goods coming in by sea! Almost 43 percent of the goods imported into the U.S. by sea come through the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach complex. The Port Complex accounts directly for more than a million jobs in California and more than 3-million jobs in the U.S. The Ports generate more than $5-billion in local revenues for California and more than 21-Billion for US.”
Tom LaBonge lives daily by his oft-spoken words: “Let’s continue to enjoy and love the great City of Los Angeles.” As the elected representative of the Fourth Council District, LaBonge has a deserved reputation for not only knowing the name of every street in his district, but taking the time to listen to the concerns of his constituents.
