Travelers flying to Los Angeles over the weekend were treated to an apocalyptic scene: billowing smoke and orange-red flames against the glittering city lights.

Naked panoramas and shocking, ubiquitous videos of wildfires stand in stark contrast to images of sunny beaches and glamorous Hollywood, which Los Angeles relies on to attract tourists who pump billions of dollars into the local economy each year.

As firefighters begin to contain the fires that have devastated Pacific Palisades, parts of Malibu and the hillside town of Altadena, tourism officials are looking for signs of the short- and long-term toll the disaster may have on Los Angeles' capabilities. . A tourist destination.

"We're very nervous," said Jackie Filla, president and CEO of the hotel association. Los Angeles.

"At first glance, there's obviously a sharp decline in short-term bookings - people who were supposed to be here this week and next week. We're also seeing some long-term declines - not a huge amount, but that's certainly one we're concerned about trend."

In some ways, the fire comes as the Los Angeles tourism industry is finally fully recovering from the blow caused by COVID-19. In 2023, the last full year for which statistics are available, Los Angeles' total tourism revenue reached $40.4 billion, a record high. This included 49.1 million tourists, down 3% from the pre-pandemic peak in 2019.

Fila noted that no hotels or major tourist attractions in Los Angeles County were damaged in the fire, and that large conferences and conventions - an important part of the tourism industry - will continue as planned. The lineup includes the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, whose leadership voted Wednesday night to continue holding its annual meeting in downtown Los Angeles later this month and donate $100,000 to relief efforts.

Another major event, the Grammy Awards, is still scheduled to be held on February 2 at the Crypto.com Arena in the city center.

Normally, organizers and attendees of these conferences and award ceremonies don’t hesitate to book rooms. However, the situation became more complicated as the fires displaced tens of thousands of people. "We are monitoring our conventions and meetings very closely because "everyone is worried about not taking rooms away for evacuees, but we have the ability to do both," Fila said. "

As the Palisades and Eaton fires raged in the week ending Jan. 11, Los Angeles hotel occupancy rates, which typically reach lows in January, jumped from 59.3% to 65%, "due to the fires," hotel industry analysts said. Bringing relocation needs,” Costa found. The biggest spike came three days before the fire, when average daily room rates at luxury hotels in the area jumped 22.7% from last year, an increase likely due to evacuees moving into higher-priced suites during the usual emergency situation . "Time is slow," said Isaac Collazo, the company's director of advanced analytics.

The city of Los Angeles has approximately 44,000 hotel rooms; the county has approximately 100,000. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Thursday that about 88,000 people were under evacuation orders.

It remains to be seen whether the region's recovery will be more like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Napa Valley's rebound after major wildfires in 2017, or Maui's ongoing recovery efforts since the devastating wildfires in 2023.

After Hurricane Katrina, travel to New Orleans dropped to less than half of previous levels before gradually recovering. It wasn't until 2016 that the city's visitor numbers returned to pre-Katrina levels.

By comparison, Napa and Sonoma counties recovered relatively quickly after wildfires burned more than 110,000 acres and killed 24 people in the fall of 2017. The fires left most vineyards and tourism infrastructure undamaged, and by early 2018, hotel occupancy and revenue were higher than the previous year, according to local tourism organization Visit Napa Valley. Local and state officials say the recovery has been fueled by strong marketing, including spending by Visit California, the state's main marketing organization.

Recovery efforts are currently underway after a fire broke out on Maui in August 2023, killing 102 people and razing much of the town of Lahaina, a major tourist destination. Tourist arrivals in November 2024 remain approximately 15% below 2022 levels. After initially sending mixed messages as the community tries to rebuild, with some urging visitors to stay away, officials are now working to push visitors back.

Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California, the state’s leading tourism organization, said in a statement, “We need to make sure travelers understand that their visit is important to the The community helps, not hurts, and the city's hotels and businesses will be ready to receive" them. "

Betta acknowledged that "we are already hearing from restaurants and hotels that they have been impacted" and said her team is working on recovery activities, stressing that "everyone, especially California residents, should consider planning a trip to Los Angeles to support the economic recovery." ”

Adam Burke, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Commission, also known as Discover LA, said it's "too early to really understand the impact," but until then, "we're working on Try to use our platform to help those directly affected."

Burke said that in the long term, he will keep a close eye on data on web searches, international bookings, airport arrivals and hotel occupancy rates for Los Angeles as a destination. He noted that in a typical year, hotel tax revenue adds more than $300 million to the city's general fund, funds that could help fuel recovery efforts.

Despite the devastation in the fire area, the vast majority of the region's most famous tourist attractions were spared any damage from the fires. While many parks and museums were closed due to air quality or other issues, some reopened Thursday, including Griffith Park, the Los Angeles Zoo and the Autry Museum of the American West.

Raphaelle Gauvin-Coulombe, an assistant professor of economics at Middlebury University, said overall consumer demand typically declines after a natural disaster because fewer outside tourists visit an area. Resulting in lower spending on leisure, hospitality and entertainment. - Author of a study last year that examined satellite data to understand fire activity and its impact on labor markets in U.S. counties

Gauvin-Coulombe said the leisure and hospitality industry is particularly important to Los Angeles County, accounting for about 13.5% of the workforce, well above the county median, which hovers around 6%. She did note, however, that destinations with more diversified economies, such as Los Angeles, tend to be more resilient than those that rely heavily on one industry.

She said the disaster could also force the industry to contend with a shrinking workforce in the region, where fires often cause an exodus. She added that the slowdown in job growth following the fires was likely to continue for three years.

“People think about everything when they travel,” said Ray Patel, president of the Northeast Los Angeles Hotel Owners Association. "It's all the guest's perception. They might say, 'Oh, there's too many fires.' ""

It's an understandable impulse, he said: "We all want to put our heads down at night and make sure we feel safe."

As Los Angeles looks to stabilize its tourism industry in the wake of the fires, it can rely on a key asset many cities don't have — its tourism bureau has staff in seven offices overseas, working with counterparts in Australia, the United Kingdom, Australia and beyond . India and China.

Burke said that at a time when dramatic television images threaten to obscure the facts about Los Angeles' geography, "we are already working with the travel industry in real time" to "educate people around the world on why it is still safe to travel responsibly" to Los Angeles . "