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Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Travel disruptions fueled by Trump policies may culminate at peak summer season
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration invited travel industry executives to the White House in May for a meeting on federal plans for the 2026 World Cup, a landmark event that under normal circumstances would draw massive international tourism to the United States. It was a welcome gathering by President Trump and his team for an industry eager to capitalize on a rare opportunity and capture tourism dollars. Welcome, at least, until Vice President JD Vance cracked a joke. 'We'll have visitors from close to 100 countries — we want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the games. But when the time is up, they'll have to go home. Otherwise, they'll have to talk to Secretary Noem,' Vance said, referring to the Homeland Security secretary and head of border enforcement. Vance's remarks, while taken in jest, fell flat in a room filled with experts more keenly aware than most of the challenges facing travel in the Trump era. 'It's one of those moments where you're almost, like, stop helping us,' one participant in the meeting told The Times, granted anonymity to speak candidly. Stories are flooding media overseas of capricious denials and detentions at U.S. border crossings, raising concern among international tourists over spending top dollar on vacations to America that may end up disrupted, or never materialize. Erratic tariff policies out of the White House have shaken consumer confidence that experts say reliably tracks with discretionary spending on travel. And a series of scares in U.S. aviation, coupled with cuts to the National Park Service and the National Weather Service, have made planning trips to some of the country's top destinations less reliable. In California, the nation's No. 1 tourist destination, international visits are expected to drop by 9.2% through the year, with international spending anticipated to drop 4.2%, according to a forecast published last month by Visit California and Tourism Economics. Around Yosemite National Park, one of the nation's most popular attractions, reported bookings were down 'as much as 50% going into Memorial Day weekend,' Caroline Beteta, president and chief executive of Visit California, told The Times. Narratives of travel disruptions under the Trump administration have given pause to U.S. officials and industry experts concerned not only with the immediate economic consequences of a slower summer season, but with the prospects of anemic attendance at World Cup games next year and, beyond, for the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. 'Consumer confidence certainly matters,' said Geoff Freeman, president and chief executive of the U.S. Travel Assn. 'It creates a degree of uncertainty.' Unlike much of the rest of the country, California is particularly susceptible to shifting trends among tourists from Asia, where tourism has yet to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic as robustly as it has in the Americas and Europe. Commercial flight restrictions over Russian airspace and the strength of the U.S. dollar haven't helped, Freeman said. On the other hand, California benefits from a tourism industry that relies more heavily on domestic travelers, the source of 80% of tourism dollars spent in the state, Beteta noted. 'There's no question that there are widespread misperceptions about impacts to the travel experience, from reports about staff cuts to detentions at the border,' Beteta said. 'Cuts at the National Park Service, for example, don't affect the park concessionaires — and those companies run most of the visitor-facing services, such as lodging, dining, shuttle services and much more. The misperception of chaos at the parks is a PR issue that can have real consequences.' But Cassidy Jones, senior visitation program manager at the National Parks Conservation Assn., said that cuts to the parks are tangible and will directly affect visitors' experience over the coming months, despite efforts by leadership at the Department of the Interior to paper over the cracks. 'There may be fewer entrance gates open,' Jones said. 'People should plan ahead and remember to be helpful park visitors. Take the optional shuttle. Come with supplies with you, as some facilities may be closed at hours you're not expecting, because they don't have the staff to keep them open. Toilets may not be unwinterized yet if they're in cold places.' In April, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order directing that national parks be 'open and accessible' through the summer season, as fears grew that staffing cuts implemented by the administration could become apparent. Still, the White House cuts and hiring freezes severely disrupted a seasonal hiring and training cadence for park rangers that usually begins around Christmas, Jones said. 'Some parks may not feel like a lot of changes are evident, but there's a lot of work that is not being done in the background,' Jones added. 'The order basically demanded that even though parks have experienced devastating staffing cuts, they are to put on a sort of public appearance that everything is business as usual. That means pulling superintendents to work in visitor centers, science and research management staff to make sure facilities are clean — biologists cleaning toilets, that sort of thing.' Twenty years ago, roughly half of flight delays were caused by uncertainty over the weather — a number that has dropped to 33% in recent years thanks to improved forecast quality. That progress is starting to reverse due to widespread cuts in talent, and will be felt by travelers sooner rather than later, said Rick Spinrad, who served as administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under President Biden. Trump's government efficiency program, known as DOGE, has eliminated hundreds of positions at NOAA, including at the National Weather Service, and is proposing a 25% cut in the agency's budget. 'In the short term, this summer, when people are doing longer traveling, we may see a degradation of services. You may see more delayed flights, more weather-impacted flights,' Spinrad said. But Spinrad's concern is that the cuts to NOAA will soon be felt much more deeply, at the local level, among the emergency managers, local transportation departments and public health centers that count on reliable forecasts to map out their work. 'What we're going to start to see, I think, is the erosion of the capability of NOAA to provide services to the degree that people had become accustomed to,' he said. Spinrad visited Southern California in late May and was taken aback by the number of people raising concern over the agency's ability to continue predicting atmospheric river events, with all of their implications on public safety, reservoir operations and hydro power. Those forecasts rely heavily on the work of a satellite operations facility that was gutted by the Trump administration. And the capabilities of the National Weather Service to predict phenomena like Santa Ana winds, which fueled devastating fires in Los Angeles in January, are at risk, with 30 of the agency's 122 weather forecast offices operating without meteorologists and with technicians cut throughout, he said. 'I know it will degrade, just by definition. Everything's going to degrade,' Spinrad added. 'All of NOAA's predictive capabilities will degrade as a result of these cuts.' Mark Spalding, president of the Ocean Foundation, warned the aviation industry would soon face disruptions as NOAA's capabilities continue to diminish. 'We will see effects this summer, because they've fired so many people and shut down so much activity,' Spalding said. 'There are a lot of services that a lot of people rely on that NOAA provides — weather prediction, ocean observing, tsunami early warning, hurricane center monitoring,' he added. 'There's a lot this summer that could be affected in ways that are akin to what we're seeing in air traffic control due to the sudden loss of personnel there.' Still, Freeman, of the U.S. Travel Assn., expressed optimism for the U.S. tourism sector going forward, noting he and his counterparts are in 'regular communication' with the Trump administration over headwinds facing the multitrillion-dollar industry. 'We have no shortage of challenges in the travel industry,' he said. 'I think the picture right now for travel is uncertain, at worst.' 'For every challenge you see, there is an opportunity on the other side,' he added.
Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- Boston Globe
The Pacific Coast Highway, a mythic route always in need of repair
Since building began on the first parts of the highway more than a century ago, sections of the route, which runs more than 650 miles from south of Los Angeles to Northern California, have been closed, over and over again. In some places, chunks of the road have slipped into the ocean. In others, more than 1 million tons of earth have barreled onto the highway, slicing it to pieces. Bridges have failed. Rainstorms have flooded the road with mud. Residents have been left marooned. Tourists have been shut out. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Recently, consecutive landslides in Big Sur, a 90-mile region along the Central Coast, have closed parts of the road for two years, four months and counting. And in January, the Palisades fire, which burned thousands of homes, shuttered an 11-mile stretch of the highway connecting the Los Angeles area with the beachside city of Malibu. Advertisement That stretch reopened on Friday, but there is no timeline for reopening the road in Big Sur. The California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, said that the state had spent more than $370 million on fixing the highway after extreme weather events in the past seven years. Prolonged closures in 2017 cost businesses along the route more than $500 million, according to the state's tourism agency, Visit California. Advertisement New York has skyscrapers. Arizona has a canyon. Mississippi has a river. California has a coast — and one major highway to see it from. Building the road on unstable terrain took ingenuity. Fixing it in a world being rocked by climate change may take even more. In early May, a four-day trip of about 600 miles along much of the highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco (passing through a burn zone and circumventing a landslide) revealed residents struggling with the closures and contemplating the future of the route. It is officially called California State Route 1, but is commonly referred to as the Pacific Coast Highway, or Highway 1, and was built bit by bit, beginning in the early 1900s. In 1964, it was merged into a single highway. The road winds through steep granite bluffs and yawns open in salt-worn beach towns where trailers with American flags stake their place in the sand. Workers poke sticks into the earth to measure the rate at which it is moving. Tractor-trailers haul car-size boulders up the narrow pass. One of the drivers, Juan Ramirez, each day carries two or three very large rocks from near Fresno, more than 150 miles inland, to the coast. 'It's a long way,' he said. 'Four hours this way, and then, four hours out.' The boulders are used to build a retaining wall intended to hold back the force of the Pacific Ocean — one small part of the effort to keep the highway open. It's a herculean task. Increasingly, it is becoming Sisyphean. A long, perfectly-peeling point break makes Malibu Lagoon State Beach, directly off the highway, among the most well-known surfing spots in the world. Advertisement But on a morning in early May, just a few silhouettes bobbed in the water. To the east, the highway, normally four lanes along this stretch, was down to two lanes that were open only to residents, workers, and emergency services. Beach parking lots had become depots for bulldozers. Traffic crawled past charred debris. Helene Henderson, the founder of Malibu Farm, a restaurant and cafe on the pier, had no idea construction was planned that day on her doorstep. 'Because a fire is not enough,' she said. The restaurant, ordinarily buzzing even on a weekday, was empty, and Henderson said that 100 staff members had no working hours. In the wake of the fire, the closure of the highway, which is the spine of the city, had wrought a second economic disaster, said Barbara Bruderlin, CEO of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce. 'It's strangling all the businesses,' she said. 'One by one, they're beginning to close.' Though the road is reopening, many may continue to struggle. Jefferson Wagner, a stuntman and former mayor of Malibu, said that sales at his surf shop, Zuma Jay Surfboards, were down nearly 50 percent. His store, just outside a road closure checkpoint, had become a makeshift post office for businesses beyond it, with packages piling up on the floor. 'Without this highway,' Wagner said, 'this town is lost.' In the southern part of Big Sur, the road narrows to a two-lane ribbon that is the only major route in or out. On the one side is a dizzying cliff. On the other is a precipitous plunge into the ocean down jagged rocks. Advertisement Residents expect isolation, and ensure they have food and gas for the times they become trapped. For weeks in 2023, landslides to both the north and south cut off a 20-mile stretch of the coast. By the time officials cleared the highway, another cascade with earth to fill hundreds of Olympic-size swimming pools had buried another stretch. The back-to-back slides have devastated many of the community's small inns and stores and are testing even the most hardened residents. 'It's been closed, closed, and closed, and closed, and closed,' said Surge Withrow, 52, a general contractor. It used to take him 10 minutes to drop his children at the school bus. Now it takes him at least an hour each way. Big Sur has long lured writers, monks, and others seeking transcendence — as well as millions of tourists a year. In the 1950s, writer Henry Miller, who lived there for nearly two decades, was already lamenting the crowds that threatened to turn Big Sur into a 'bonanza.' Even with the closure, the northern part of the coast, which remains easily accessible from San Francisco, continues to grapple with the longer-term impact of overtourism. There has always been a complex relationship between Big Sur and its visitors — and the highway that gets them in and out. 'It is a constant project to keep this road open,' said Magnus Torén, director of the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur. At some distant time it might become untenable, he added. But perhaps there was a silver lining: Without people, the coast could be preserved. Advertisement 'I never thought of this before,' he added, 'but how wonderful that would be.' This article originally appeared in
Wall Street Journal
23-05-2025
- Wall Street Journal
The Other Great California Road Trip
For decades, road trippers in search of California postcard views have flocked to Highway 1 for panoramas of craggy coastline and shady redwood forests. But ask a local like me which stretch of blacktop really shows off the Golden State's frontier spirit and scenic diversity, and you're liable to hear a different number: 395. A world apart from the clogged coastline, Highway 395 winds from the lapis water of Lake Tahoe to the sky-high summit of Mount Whitney. This is the road that in-the-know mountain ramblers take to avoid the high-season throngs of Sequoia and Big Sur. A route where ski bums, ranchers and Patagonia-clad vacationers all coexist in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada. 'It's really a journey full of superlatives,' says Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California. 'You pass the highest point in the contiguous United States, and a short detour takes you to the oldest trees in the world.' And this summer, choosing it just makes practical sense. With mudslides and extreme weather events causing frequent closures along Highway 1, Highway 395 offers an uncrowded alternative route—that is, if you're cool with trading sandy beaches and Pacific surf for alpine lakes and dramatic hikes. Covering roughly 475 miles, this itinerary more than delivers on the California dream.
Los Angeles Times
17-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Huntington Beach touts growth, examines headwinds at tourism summit
The Visit California official visitor's guide for 2025 features actor John Stamos, a self-described 'California boy.' Look closer, and locals will recognize the iconic Huntington Beach Pier in the background of the cover shot, which was taken at the Paséa Hotel and Spa. Huntington Beach remains a big part of the state's tourism industry. Visit Huntington Beach hosted its biannual tourism summit on May 8 at another hotel across from the ocean, the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa. 'Huntington Beach does such a great job,' said Caroline Beteta, Visit California's president and chief executive. 'I can't emphasize enough how important it is for Huntington Beach to be fully funded, to take advantage of the platform that we present to the industry.' Visit HB's president and chief executive, Kelly Miller, said his organization has taken advantage of a raise in the Tourism Bid Improvement District rate from 4 to 6%, which went into effect last July. That means that Visit HB gets a 6% cut from local hotels to fund its efforts in marketing Surf City. 'They send the money in, the city collects it and it comes to us,' Miller said. 'There are no local tax dollars that residents pay to fund tourism visitor marketing in Huntington Beach.' The words 'cautiously optimistic' could describe the prospects for Huntington Beach and the state as a whole for 2025, though 'headwinds' was another word often used at the tourism summit. International tourism is expected to suffer with the strength of the U.S. dollar, as well as tariff policies instituted by President Trump. According to a Tourism Economics forecast released earlier this month, about 267.8 million people are expected to visit California this year, a drop of 0.7%. Beteta said her organization is looking at investing more in domestic travel as it prepares for its next board meeting on June 3. She added that 83% of the state's visitor spending is domestic. 'I'm going to take that as good news, as we have to look at shifting and managing the global environment right now,' Beteta said. 'There's a lot of places, like Hawaii for example, that don't have the accessibility of the domestic market, much less an in-state market. With 40 million Californians, we can always turn to the backyard in times of crisis.' Huntington Beach saw $580 million in visitor spending in 2024, a new record, per the Visit HB Visitor Economic Impact Overview. The city welcomed 2.34 million non-Orange County visitors, a 4.4% increase over the year before, and tourism accounts for nearly 10% of the city's total employment. Tommy Martinez from Tripadvisor offered positive thinking for the future of Surf City during his talk about millennial and Gen Z travel trends. The percentage of Gen Z and millennials surveyed who considered coastal beaches as an ideal vacation spot were 64% and 65% respectively, according to the Tripadvisor Travel through Life report for 2024. A sizable percentage of those generations surveyed also considered mountain ranges and rural countrysides as interesting places to visit. 'It's completely different,' Martinez said. 'When I was in the Y2K era, it was all [Las] Vegas, all the time.' Cindy Decker from Tourism Economics presented attendees with information on drivers and roadblocks for travel, while Miller also engaged in a sit-down discussion with U.S. men's volleyball national team coach Karch Kiraly. The event was attended by city leaders including Mayor Pat Burns and City Manager Travis Hopkins. Miller and Kiraly discussed the news that Honda Center in Anaheim has been announced as the indoor volleyball venue for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Miller noted that Huntington Beach, though not selected as an Olympic venue, is the closest beach to nearby Disneyland, at just more than 11 miles away. He called the Tripadvisor survey numbers reassuring. 'The beach is a huge, huge destination driver, and we have that,' Miller said. 'We have a quarter of the beaches in Orange County.' The summit concluded with Hayley Barg, culture and engagement manager at the Waterfront Beach Resort, a Hilton Hotel, receiving the Surf City USA Industry Leader Award for her contributions to the local tourism community.
Business Journals
12-05-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Visit Oakland celebrates $779M economic impact from tourism in 2024
Visit Oakland, the destination marketing organization for the city of Oakland, hosted IMPACT 510: The Town Tourism Day on May 7 at the Oakland Museum of California. The sold-out event welcomed 250 attendees including community partners, city officials, and business leaders to celebrate the 2024 results. Last year, the total tourism economic impact was $779 million, and visitors supported a total of $583 million in spending in Oakland. Of the $583 million spent in Oakland in 2024 by visitors, lodging accounted for $174 million, or 30% of the total visitor spending. Food and beverage spending resulted in $160 million, representing 27% of the total spend. Transportation, including both air and ground transportation within the destination, as well as retail, captured $97 million of total visitor spending. In 2024, visitors spent $56 million on recreation and entertainment. Oakland saw a 4% increase in day trips to the city. The team at Visit Oakland is focused on converting day trips into overnight stays to increase the economic impact. This commitment comes at a critical time as the travel landscape continues to face unprecedented challenges. 'This is an extremely important time in the travel and tourism industry,' said Peter Gamez, president and CEO for Visit Oakland. 'We are experiencing change on a national level that directly impacts Oakland locally. Our results show the significance that tourism brings to The Town. It is crucial that Oakland leadership work closely with Visit Oakland and continues to recognize and support the value of marketing our city to further the growth of our tourism economy.' In true Oakland style, IMPACT 510 - The Town Tourism Day was about more than just the successful numbers. Visit Oakland presented an event that shared the value of tourism and uplifted the community. The name Impact 510 pays tribute to Oakland's 510 area code. The date of the event was selected in support of California Tourism Month, and to align with National Travel and Tourism Week. expand Visit Oakland 'Oakland is a city that proudly celebrates its diverse arts and culture, amazing attractions, and award-winning culinary scene' said Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California, the state's nonprofit tourism marketing organization. 'Visit Oakland does a wonderful job highlighting these assets to attract visitors to Oakland, produce vibrancy in The Town, and directly impact the city's economic success.' The energy in the room was powerful and showed the unity of Oakland. Program elements included an engaging presentation by Gamez and an Oakland's Bright Future panel discussion featuring Edreece Arghandiwal, co-founder and chief marketing officer, Oakland Roots SC and Oakland Soul SC; Joe Ernst, principal, srmErnst Development Partners and Prescott Market; Mieko Hatano, CEO, Oakland Symphony; and Kymberly Miller, CEO, Children's Fairyland. Honorable Mayor Barbara Lee was a guest speaker addressing the Oakland community at one of her first public events since winning the election. The master of ceremonies was Autumn King, host of Trail Chats. Live entertainment brought an inspiring performance by the Oakland Symphony and DJ Lady Ryan played music that matched The Town's vibrancy. A call to action closed the event — Gamez recognized individuals from the restaurant and hospitality communities to remind everyone support local businesses. It was powerful moment honoring the people of Oakland, who remain the true heart and soul of The Town. 'We challenged everyone to make this a summer to remember and share their love of Oakland by telling their family, friends and colleagues to plan a day in Oakland visiting our attractions, dining in our restaurants, shopping in our stores, and staying the night in our hotels' Gamez said. 'I know the power of the people in our community, and they can help make a positive impact on our local businesses, our attractions, and our economy.' expand Visit Oakland Visitor spending impact In 2024, 3.4 million visitors spent $583 million across the Oakland economy. The Oakland visitor economy experienced a 0.2% decline in visitor spending from 2023. Total economic impact Direct visitor spending of $583 million generated a total economic impact of $779 million in Oakland in 2024, including indirect and induced impacts. This total economic impact sustained 5,548 jobs and generated $85 million in state and local tax revenues in 2024. Visit Oakland is the official destination marketing organization for Oakland. Their mission is to increase tourism's economic impact to the city of Oakland through destination development. The team at Visit Oakland elevates, celebrates, and illuminates Oakland in all its vibrancy. They do this by promoting Oakland on a regional, national, and international level to increase positive awareness and attract visitors and group business to The Town. Visit Oakland also does this by supporting and promoting programs and events in Oakland that are open to the public and interesting to visitors. Visit Oakland is a nonprofit organization funded by hotel occupancy tax and Measure C along with other community partners. This means that every time someone stays in an Oakland Tourism Business Improvement District hotel, 2% of the room rate per night goes towards funding Visit Oakland's marketing efforts. Tourism is essential to the success of a city. When people visit for leisure or corporate travel, they utilize the Oakland airport and transportation systems. Those visitors also stay in Oakland's hotels, shop at the local stores, dine in the restaurants, and visit local attractions. This generates revenue for Oakland businesses and creates positive energy throughout The Town's community.
