Los Angeles Immigration Protests Spur Some Travelers to Change Plans

Skift

a day ago

International tourists viewing the headlines from Los Angeles and other big U.S. cities may decide to skip the hassle and vacation elsewhere. The U.S. keeps giving tourists reasons to not visit.
Most of Los Angeles feels normal, but after days of protests over an ICE crackdown — and with curfews, arrests, and military deployments downtown — some tourists are starting to rethink their plans.
"Clients are concerned with flying and driving to the cruise ports in the L.A. area and have changed plans for cruising for the summer," said travel agent Debbie Allen at NevadaTravelAgent.com. "Many have altered their plans to travel to Alaska (Seattle) and East Coast ports rather than L.A."
Asia Lantz, a travel advisor based in Phoenix at TravelWithAsia.com, said a lot of his international clients typically fly out of LAX, but they are opting for Phoenix instead.
"It's not full-on panic, but there's definitely more concern about the overall vibe in bigger cities right now," Lantz said. "People are asking more questions than usual about airport logistics, layovers and whether it's even worth routing through certain places."
In addition to Los Angeles, protests against the Trump administration's mass deportation policy have broken out in San Francisco, Oakland, and Santa Ana, California; Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston, Texas; New York; Boston; Chicago; Atlanta; Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
As of Wednesday, 700 U.S. Marines were undergoing training in the area, according to CNN.
"I've had clients reconsider layovers or shift plans to alternative destinations not because they're afraid of protests, but because they don't want their vacation to be overshadowed by unpredictability or tension," Lantz said. "That said, most of my travelers trust that I'll flag any real risks and help them make informed decisions."
Five other travel advisors said Los Angeles tourism was unaffected by the protests, which are centered in the downtown area and away from most — but not all — of the city's tourism sights.
"There's no softening to speak of," said Eric Marino, president of All-Travel and vice chairman of the American Society of Travel Advisors National Board of Directors. "It's a non-issue and I would say a non-story."
Waymo Paused LA Operations
In other developments, Waymo halted the operations of its self-driving cars in parts of LA after protesters set several on fire, the Washington Post reported.
And the Mexico national soccer team, slated to play a match in the city on Saturday against the Dominican Republic, canceled its plans to stay in a hotel in downtown LA, and decided on another hotel instead, according to the Associated Press.
Mayor Karen Bass instituted an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew downtown in a one-square-mile area.
Airbnb decline to comment on the impact to its business of the Los Angeles or wider protests, and Expedia and Priceline didn't immediately comment. Visit California referred us to the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, which didn't reply to a request for comment.
One travel industry source said Wednesday he just visited LA with his family on vacation, spent a day in downtown LA, and didn't learn about the protests until they returned to the hotel.
"We did a walking food tour, in the afternoon, and then a concert at the Hollywood Bowl at night with zero issues and then went back to the hotel to learn 'mobs have set the city on fire.''