Latest news with #VisitHB
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Visit Huntington Beach President and CEO Kelly Miller to retire in October
Kelly Miller wants to visit Joshua Tree. To help make that happen, he's stepping down as president and chief executive of travel marketing organization Visit Huntington Beach, effective Oct. 15. Miller, who has been at the helm of Visit Huntington Beach for 12 of the nearly 35 years he's worked in the visitor industry, decided it's a good time to retire and enjoy life with his wife. 'I do believe that as we get to the next chapter and hopefully the next third of my life, because I do want to try to live to be 100, those priorities change,' said Miller, 67, in an interview Monday. 'You have a sense in your own skull that those priorities are changing and you want to do more hobbies or travel more, and you aren't as excited about the things you used to be excited about when I was younger in the hospitality industry. 'I love to ride my bike, I love Orange County and I love Huntington Beach, and I want to really enjoy the time we have here within this region. I've never been to Joshua Tree, for example. These are the things that we talk about, but before you know it we're in the middle of COVID and all of these things start to happen.' Miller feels that under his leadership, Visit Huntington Beach has solidified Surf City's status as a premier destination for travelers, events and 'beach-wide' conventions, delivering on the brand promise of being the quintessential California beach destination. Miller, whose organization hosted the biannual Tourism Summit last month, noted that Huntington Beach welcomed 2.34 million non-Orange County visitors last year, a 4.4% increase from 2023. Roughly two-thirds of the city's visitors overall are repeat visitors. 'If you lay that foundation right and the team is delivering on what the board's expectations are, the question becomes, do you mail it in or do you look to do the next chapter?' Miller said. 'Leaving on one's own terms is very important.' During his tenure, Visit HB reached a 10-year funding agreement with the city of Huntington Beach, and saw three Tourism Business Improvement District (TBID) assessment increases. Justin Simpson, the Visit HB board chairman and general manager of Kimpton Shorebreak Huntington Beach Resort, said Miller's ability to balance forward-thinking strategy with a results-based approach has served the city well. 'While we will deeply miss his presence, we fully support Kelly's decision to retire and are grateful for the legacy he leaves behind,' Simpson said in a news release. 'Under his leadership, VHB has not only achieved national recognition, including DMAP accreditation from Destinations International, but has also twice been named one of the best places to work in Orange County. His impact will be felt for years to come.' Miller held destination leadership roles in Juneau, Alaska; Atlanta, Ga.; Asheville, N.C. and Tampa, Fla. before coming to Huntington Beach. A longtime supporter of sports tourism, he is currently the chair of the Orange County Sports Commission and formerly chaired the Orange County Visitors Assn. He said some of his favorite memories during his tenure include celebrating surfing's centennial in 2014 and 2015, when he rode a 42-foot-long surfboard with 66 other surfers, setting Guinness World Records for both the length of the board and most riders. In June 2019, Huntington Beach hosted Visit USA's annual IPW tourism showcase, which included a performance by Snoop Dogg. Miller said that hosting the International Surfing Assn. World Para Surfing Championship the last two years was also meaningful for him, as his stepmother lived with multiple sclerosis for decades. Visit Huntington Beach now has more money to market the travel destination than ever before, and recently partnered with a new advertising agency, JNS Next. 'I now have in place an incredible team,' he said. 'There were some things we wanted to check off. This might be a good time to wave goodbye, be around to see my successor get hired, help train them and go to my next chapter. It just felt time.'
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.
