Five months ago, the Los Angeles City Council approved a plan to raise wages for airport and hotel workers to $30 an hour by 2028, to attend the city’s Olympic and Paralympic games in time — and also require new health care payments.

For some in the Los Angeles tourism industry, that moment was like another era.

Since then, President Trump has launched a trade war, which in turn has triggered travel from Canada and other countries. The city encountered catastrophic wildfires and then a huge budget crisis occurred. By the end of March, passenger volume at Los Angeles International Airport was down nearly 5% from the same period last year.

Now, as the first of several wage increases scheduled to take effect on July 1, the Los Angeles Business Leaders Alliance urges the council to postpone the minimum wage increase, saying they will destroy an already struggling industry.

"Two hotels have been closed. More people are starting to reduce services and fire workers," Rosanna Maietta, president and CEO of the American Hotels and Accommodation Association, said at City Hall last week. “If the ordinance is in place, we hope more hotels will be closed.”

Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Business Association, said the same horrible warning that the increase in wages would cause "irreversible damage" to local tourism. He said Los Angeles’ political leaders can’t afford to lose another sector of the local economy as the entertainment industry falls 57% this year in the crisis and new home construction.

"Los Angeles has destroyed housing production. Now they are going to the tourism industry," Waldman said in an interview.

Despite these warnings, the Council’s Economic Development Commission signed a tourism wage Regulations on Tuesday, laying the foundation for the vote of the entire council this month. If the proposal is approved without changes, airport workers and employees at hotels with 60 or more rooms will climb their hourly minimum wage to $22.50 in July, $25 in 2026, $27.50 in 2027 and $30 in 2028.

In addition to these additions, the proposal requires that these workers will receive $8.35 per hour of medical insurance starting January 1. (Employers who already provide health care will need to ensure that the coverage is worth $8.35 per hour or the difference is made up.)

Hugo Soto-Martínez, a member of the Oneime Hotel Union who served on the committee, said he saw no reason to change the course.

"I know the situation looks different than it was a year ago," he said in an interview. "But the reality is that we live in a city where people cannot afford it. They don't have health insurance. The impact it has on their families and children and their quality of life has been going on for too long."

Unite Local 11's co-president Kurt Petersen said it was hypocritical that business leaders were preparing for the renovation of the Los Angeles Convention Center while forcing the city council to spend tens of millions of dollars. The vote was only last month.

Peterson said last year, United Real Estate hotel owners have shown that they can afford higher wages, with some adding $10 per hour during contract negotiations.

"They just don't want to pay the workers, and that's it. So they came up with every excuse in the book to leave the money to themselves," he said.

Los Angeles has four municipal minimum wage laws. Compared to the basic minimum wage for the vast majority of workers, hotel staff pay the highest - $20.32 per hour and $17.28 per hour.

LAX's contractor employees, such as airlines and franchise businesses, have a minimum hourly wage of $19.28. However, they also receive a minimum healthcare payment of $5.95 per hour, which raises their total hourly rate to $25.23.

Workers in hotels with 60 or more rooms will increase their minimum wage by 48% over 3½ years, according to the Council’s proposal. At Los Angeles International Airport, ceiling, cabin cleaners and other workers will receive a minimum wage increase of nearly 56%.

Hugo Ortega, chef at Hilton Garden Inn Locks and Holiday Inn Lax, said the increase in salary will help him pay rent and provide it to his three children. Ortega, 52, works 70 hours a week as a chef and maintenance engineer.

“I have to do two jobs to keep my family moving forward,” he said in an interview.

Supporters of higher wages repeatedly pointed out that a city commission study found that higher incomes of tourism workers would stimulate the region’s economy.

In recent months, the fight over minimum wage has exceeded the crisis of the city’s budget, which relies on more than $300 million in hotel tax revenue each year to cover the cost of basic services such as police, firefighters and paramedics.

Mayor Karen Bass faced a nearly $100 million shortage in 2025-26 and recently recommended layoffs of about 1,600 city workers, including employees from the Los Angeles Police Department, the Department of Health and the Department of Transportation. Since then, some council members have warned that a sharp increase in wages will result in fewer hotels overall and reduce tax revenues.

“Our salary and health care costs are increasing by 50%, while our entire tourism economy is underwater,” said Councilman Traci Park. “This directly affects our sales tax, our business tax, our (hotel) tax and everything else that affects our city’s budget.”

In recent months, the Council’s budget committee has been hearing increasingly frustrating assessments of the city’s tourism and aviation industries. Senior budget official Matt Szabo warned last week that flight bookings from major European cities to the United States have dropped by double digits this year.

Szabo, citing data from aviation data provider OAG, said bookings from Canada were worse, down more than 70% this year.

“We don’t see the impact of federal policy right away,” he said.

Shortly after taking office, Trump hit Canada and Mexico with high tariffs, some of which remained in place even after announcing a 90-day pause against the trade war. Canadians are angry at the threat of Trump's annexation of his own country and have begun boycotting U.S. products and canceling trips to the U.S., including to popular winter destinations such as Palm Springs.

On Monday, Los Angeles World Airport executive John Ackerman heard from the Budget Committee, who reported that the franchise business at Los Angeles International Airport was suffering major financial distress and could require additional financial help from the city.

"If they can't succeed, I think the people who replace them miraculously will do better, which will be a challenge," Ackerman told the committee. "So, this could pose a significant danger to us. For us, in the long run, this could lead to less flights and less revenue for airlines and it becomes down."

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday that California's visit to nonprofit tourism marketing forecasts that visitors to the state fell by 1% this year, the first decline since the pandemic. The agency said most of that was driven by a 9.2% drop in international visits.

Tourism groups attribute most of the reduction to “decreased consumer sentiment” and a strong dollar, which makes tourists in other countries more expensive.

Elisa Valencia, who works for the airline catering company Flying Food Group, said her salary of $20.76 per hour is not enough to provide her three children in Michel Kahn, Mexico. Valencia, 34, rejected the idea that turmoil in the travel industry is the reason for rejecting workers’ wage increases.

“The impact of tariffs on everyone, not just companies,” she said. “It is becoming increasingly expensive to buy everyday food and natural gas.”

Times worker Sandra McDonald contributed to the report.