Twenty-one years ago, Alan Rothenberg helped bring the World Cup to America. Now, in his new role as chairman of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, he wants to bring the world to Los Angeles.
Rothenberg, who’s also the chairman of 1st Century Bank in Century City and Santa Monica sports marketing firm Premier Partnerships, is now tasked with helping reach the board’s goal of welcoming 50 million annual visitors by 2020. He recently sat with the Business Journal at 1st Century’s offices to discuss improvements at Los Angeles International Airport, L.A.’s safer streets and his plans to promote the region.
Question: LAX has taken some criticism over the years. How important is the new international terminal in changing that perception?
Answer: So much of the tourism growth has been international. So much of it from Asia, particularly from China. They’re coming into that brand-new international terminal, which is probably the best terminal in the United States. The foreign visitors – who also are the biggest spenders – get that word of mouth out.
China’s an obvious one, but what are some other international markets you’re focusing on?
The Middle East is about to get much bigger. If you talk to the luxury hotels, particularly in Beverly Hills, they get massive amounts of business from the Middle East and there’s going to be so much more of that. Other than that, India and other parts of China beyond the big cities.
What’s going to be bringing in more tourists over the next few years?
Get ready for next year: We’re going to have a massive influx with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios.
A lot of people who haven’t been here are still stuck with older stereotypes of dirty air and high crime. How do you change that?
It disappears when more and more people come here and then go back and tell their compatriots. Back in the ’80s, there was an epidemic of crime. It was horrible, but again, it was concentrated in an area where no tourist was going anyway. But, boy, if you went around the world it was, “We can’t go to Los Angeles. The streets are filled with criminals.” That was never the case.
But it does seem like the city’s become less dangerous overall. What do you think has contributed to that?
Nationwide, it’s changed. But our Police Department has done a great job. After years of scandals and criticisms, they’ve gotten it right. And I also think the business community has stepped up. They’ve realized it hurts business if there’s a notion of crime. Even if you’re not directly the victim, the whole atmosphere is such that not just tourism but business in general hurts.
The dineLA program, in which local restaurants offer special discounted menus for a two-week period, has been one of the tourism board’s biggest successes. Why has it worked so well?
At the beginning, we almost had to beg restaurants to join it. Their concern was, “Are we going to look like a discount coffee shop or something like that?” Now it’s become so significant that the high-end restaurants are making sure that they’re on it. What they have found is that the overall expenditure by people that come isn’t significantly different than when they’re not doing dineLA. It’s a nice place and you’re getting a discount on your main meal, so maybe you bought a slightly more expensive bottle of wine.
How does your role on the tourism board fit in with your job as a banker?
I do this because I care about the city, but we’ve also got restaurant clients and entertainment clients. We have clients that invest in hotels. Obviously, tourism is going to help them. That means people going to restaurants, people going to bars, people going to museums, shopping. A rising tide lifts all boats.
When you eventually move on from this position, what are some things that you hope are in place?
With the mayor, we’ve said that by 2020 we expect 50 million tourists. We’re up to 42, 43 million now, and I think quite honestly we can get to that 50 million before then. The rest of the world thinks of us as beaches and Hollywood. Everyone thinks this is a cultural wasteland. You’ve got to be kidding me! You’ve got LACMA, MOCA, the Hammer, the Getty and so on. We love the beach and we love the glitz, but we want people to understand that we have everything.
