California’s plea to Aussie tourists to help Los Angeles avoid economic crisis after devastating fires
California has a message for Australians amid fears of an economic crisis.
Los Angeles residents are pleading with Australian tourists to not abandon their holidays and “come back as soon as possible” to help avoid an economic crisis on top of the destruction left behind by the fires.
“Our message is please don’t cancel a trip if you have one planned and as you’re considering where to holiday in the near future. Please put Los Angeles under consideration,” Ryan Becker, Visit California’s senior vice president of communications and strategy, told news.com.au while visiting Melbourne this week.
“The truth is 98 per cent of Los Angeles County was completely unaffected – not in a burn area at all.
“I don’t mean to minimise the tragedy for the neighbourhoods where it took place. It’s clearly devastating. But for travellers arriving in LA and travelling around the LA Basin, they probably won’t ever see any impacts of the fires.”
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California is facing a massive rebuild after enormous blazes in the country’s second largest metropolis this month killed more than two dozen people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.
The deadly Palisades Fire that tore through a glamorous area home to the rich and famous made headlines across the world.
Meanwhile, a new wildfire erupted north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, local time, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes around Castaic Lake, close to the city of Santa Clarita.
A storm is forecast to hit Los Angeles in coming days, bringing with it much needed rain.
However, Mr Becker wants to assure Australian travellers that they will not be seen as a nuisance in Los Angeles, and in fact, they play an essential role in limiting harm to the wider community.
With tourists and locals reluctant to go about their usual business amid the tragedy, reservations for Los Angeles restaurants were down 50 to 60 per cent year-on-year in the first week after the fires. This is despite those restaurants not being directly affected by fire itself.
“It’s human nature when a community goes through a tragedy to want to give it time and space to grieve and heal,” Mr Becker said.
“The reality is, all that does is add an economic crisis on top of a natural disaster and tourism is so critically important to all of California but especially Los Angeles County.
“It accounts for about a quarter of all the tourism revenue in the state in any given year and there is about 224,000 Californian workers that depend on hospitality jobs to fund their mortgages and put their kids through school, so it’s critically important to get visitation back to where it was.”
Mr Becker added: “The hotel and restaurant community really stepped up to feed and shelter evacuees and first responders, but it’s off peak in Los Angeles so there’s plenty of capacity. The hotels are not anywhere near to sold out so they can do both.”
While most tourism drawcards remain unscathed, tourists need to be aware Malibu is not what it once was.
“There is about a 13km stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway that is closed. There’s no opening date. That is a heavily affected burnt area. It’s heavily residential with a handful of small restaurants there along the water that were damaged or destroyed unfortunately,” Mr Becker said.
If Aussies are planning to road trip up the coast, they are advised to take a detour from Santa Monica through Calabasas, which Mr Becker said would only add about 45 minutes to their trip.
“And it’s not unappealing, it’s nice on its own,” he said.