Hahn Aims to Get Up Close and Personal With Asian Hosts
By DAVID GREENBERG
Staff Reporter
During the last L.A. tourism and trade mission to Asia in 1998, Richard Riordan was mayor, the economy was still solid and Japanese visitors and others were flocking here by the planeload.
This week, as Mayor James Hahn and 38 government, tourism and business leaders travel for 10 days throughout Asia, the local economy is trying to recover from a two-year slump and tourism hasn’t begun to come out of a downward spiral.
This time around, there are celebrity draws on the trip actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dodgers pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii, one of the most popular Japanese players in Major League Baseball. But beyond the glitz are some important economic stakes for the region.
Unlike 1998, the Hahn delegation is looking to make up for lost ground as the sluggish economy, especially in the international tourism market, continues to hurt the region.
While Asians always favor face-to-face contact, economists say it’s especially important at a time when downtown hotel occupancy has fallen to 50 percent from as much as 70 percent before the terrorist attacks.
“The Asian business community relies on personal relationships and they like senior-level people,” said Larry Kosmont, president and chief executive of Kosmont Cos., an L.A. consulting firm. “A trip like this could set the stage for getting some of that occupancy back on its feet.”
Last month, the U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report showing that L.A. lost $2 billion in tourism dollars over the past two years, the third largest hit among U.S. cities.
Delegation members will be shining the spotlight on its new attractions, such as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, the Getty Museum and the Disney Concert Hall opening next year.
Local tourism officials also want to establish relationships with their Beijing counterparts to create travel packages that include a stopover in L.A. for East Coast, Canada and South America tourists headed to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
Beyond tourism, delegation organizers hinted that agreements might be reached to broaden access to China for local import-related businesses.
Megatoys Inc. will host a business breakfast in Shanghai to promote L.A. as the North American hub for China’s light industrial companies that want to expand operations, invest in real estate or form joint ventures with U.S. technology companies.
“L.A. is the best choice for them because of the diversity and the proximity to the Pacific Rim and Latin American companies as well,” said Megatoys President Peter Woo. “All the big companies have representatives here.”
Any deals during the trip likely will be the result of negotiations that began months or even years ago.
That was the case when Riordan finalized three years of negotiations by signing a 32-year lease extension with Evergreen America Corp. at the Port of Los Angeles, a deal that ultimately will secure 24,000 port-related jobs and $1 billion in wages.
Officials on the Riordan delegation said that trip was successful because meetings were set up for local companies in cities where respective markets were thriving: telecoms in Tokyo; digital companies in Hong Kong (where venture capital was available); food processing in Shanghai (where export opportunities exist); and entertainment officials in Beijing and Shanghai (where the television market was exploding.)
Many of these companies, particularly those in entertainment, had previously failed to set up meetings in China, where government officials are weary of the content in American films and TV and prefer talking to fellow government figures over chief executives.
“The issue was what could the government give to local businesses in Los Angeles that they didn’t have,” said City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who was Riordan’s deputy mayor for economic development and went on the 1998 trip. “That was access. We helped them get meetings with government officials.”
Among members of the current delegation members are L.A. Councilmembers Janice Hahn and Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles World Airports Executive Director Lydia Kennard, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Executive Director David Wiggs, and Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau Senior Vice President of International Marketing Patti MacJennett.
Cost of the trip for city officials will be $450,000 to be paid for through user fees from the Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Los Angeles and the Department of Water and Power. Private business executives are paying their own way.
Eastern Itinerary:
With Asian tourism way down, Hahn and other participants are trying to make up for lost time.
Nov. 16-26
Destinations: Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo, Shanghai,
Hong Kong, Taipei
Focal points: Tourism, trade, environmental cleanup
of port
No. of city officials: 15
No. of business leaders, economists and others: 24
City cost: $450,000
Projected revenues to be generated directly from trip:
Tens of millions of dollars
Business Participants
Andrew Cherng, CEO, Panda Restaurant Group
Jim Dunn, President and CEO, Airtel Plaza Hotel
Earl Gales, Chairman and CEO, Jenkins/Gales & Martinez
Ray Landy, President, DMJMH & N Inc.
Edward McSpeden, Exec. Vice Pres., HNTB Architects
Peter Woo, President, Megatoys
Shu Kwan, Chief Executive, ABC Toys
Source: City of Los Angeles
