LA big on Indian weddings
The first US destination to open an office in India, Los Angeles is keen on tapping the M!CE market, especially the wedding and events segment from India
Ernest Wooden Jr, CEO and President, Los Angeles Tourism, was on a flying visit to Mumbai recently to open the tourism board's India office, making it the first US destination to do so. It is headed by Seema Kadam, Los Angeles Tourism's first Regional Director for India. Along with her were Doane Liu, Executive Director at City of Los Angeles Department of Convention & Tourism Development, as well as Curren Price, City Council Member, Los Angeles. The delegation's focus was hugely on M!CE from India, particularly weddings and events.
Wooden Jr said, “We are very excited about M!CE from India to Los Angeles and one component which is attractive to us is the huge business of weddings. We have a particular interest in the wedding business from India and are currently trying to size the market. For now, we are going to spend majority of our time in our new office in a B2B effort to educate our travel partners in Mumbai and New Delhi as well as some secondary cities about LA.”
Los Angeles has also seen a lot of interest from the incentive market, especially due to the Hollywood angle. Speaking about M!CE facilities, Liu says, “We have venues that can handle all group sizes and can offer unique itineraries. We have one large convention center called the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) in Downtown LA which is just under a million square feet when you combine the exhibition and meeting rooms. The challenge is that it was built in the 1970s and two major halls are not connected. This project to build in between the two buildings will start next summer. We are also constructing new hotels in the area. There are approximately 5,000 rooms right now and the goal is to reach 8,000 by 2021.”
He assured that Indian food in LA is not a problem. While the Los Angeles Department of Convention & Tourism Development doesn't have any incentive scheme in place for M!CE groups, they consider discounts and special addons on a case-to-case basis. It has a M!CE-specific portal for agents and planners called ‘Meet LA' that has all related information.
PLANS We will educate our travel partners in Mumbai & New Delhi as well as Tier-II cities about LA