It feels like everybody just wants to be in L.A. these days. On top of the growth in population the city logged in 2016, it turns out we broke another record, too: More people visited Los Angeles in 2016 than ever before. At least 47 million of them, to be exact.
In addition to the overall number of visitors, our tourism also hit another interesting mark this year, as L.A. became the first U.S. city to host more than a million individual tourists from China in a single year, according to FOX 11. The only foreign country that sent more visitors to L.A. in 2016 than China was Mexico.
“This is L.A.'s moment,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said at a press event announcing the findings, adding that his administration is, “working hard to keep up the momentum” of drawing ever more tourists to town.
The recent closing of a deal to bring the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to Los Angeles was cited as part of that momentum, as were the plans to make major upgrades to LAX and the Port of Los Angeles. Even the location of Garcetti’s announcement event itself, Universal Studios, was held up as a big achievement in luring tourists; after a $1.5 billion update that included building the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, that park saw record attendance in 2016.
We certainly can’t blame people for wanting to get a taste of L.A., from the great beaches to the fascinating museums—especially if the tourist dollars keep contributing to the recent job growth we’ve seen across the region.
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