50 Million Tourists Visited L.A. in 2018

Los Angeles reached a historic milestone in 2018, welcoming 50 million visitors for the first time ever and accomplishing the destination’s ambitious tourism goal two years early.

The new record is 1.5 million visitors higher than 2017’s total – a 3.1 percent increase – marking the eighth-consecutive year of tourism growth for Los Angeles.

City leaders and Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board president Ernest Wooden made the celebratory announcement using a hologram created by Los Angeles-based VNTANA, the leading provider of premium mixed reality experiences, at a special gathering of LA’s tourism and hospitality community.

In surpassing 50 million total visitors, Los Angeles set new tourism records for domestic and international visitation, hosting an estimated 42.5 million domestic visitors (a three percent increase) and 7.5 million international visitors (3.6 percent increase).

The UK remains LA’s fifth overseas market with 382,000 visitors in 2018, an increase of three percent.

This figure is recorded as an all-time high in inbound international travel, demonstrating the continued growth in demand for LA as a destination for both business and leisure travelers.

After a slight decrease in 2017, visitation from Mexico in 2018 scored its highest total ever with 1.8 million visitors, a four percent increase.

China recorded an all-time high 1.2 million visitors, making Los Angeles the number one ranked US city for Chinese travelers (6.9 percent increase, the largest net gain among all international markets).

Other international markets recording their highest visitation totals ever in 2018 include: Canada with 780,000 (4.5 percent increase); UK with 382,000 (three percent increase); Japan with 349,000 (2.5 percent increase); Scandinavia with 190,000 (3.9 percent increase); and India with 130,000 (5.1 percent increase).