From Oz to WeHo: Aussie Tourists Fill Local Hotels

On the other side of the world, Australians are also noticing LA. Last year, a record 400,000 Australians traveled here, ranking the country first in overseas visitors to the city, and third internationally after Mexico and Canada, according to the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. And it isn’t tapering off: visitors are up 10 percent from the previous year.

Australian tourism and marketing experts attribute the upswing to increased competition among airlines, including Virgin’s relatively new V Australia airline, which began flying nonstop from Sydney to LAX in 2009, helping to drive down flight prices. A strong Australian dollar, which gained strength around the same time, has also helped. And it’s close by — relatively speaking, of course.

“For us, taking a 13-hour plus flight is quite short,” said Mario Paez, a travel agent with Out Travel, a gay-focused agency in Sydney. “It’s an easy little holiday for Australians.”

A decade ago, Johnson encouraged greater cross promotion between his West Hollywood hotel and Australian travel agencies and companies offering package deals. For nearly 15 years, he’s talked up WeHo to those in the travel industry on annual visits to major cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

He also encouraged the city’s marketing and tourism bureau, Visit West Hollywood, to launch its own efforts. Despite the then weaker Australian dollar and more limited flight selection, it did make sense: LAX is the gateway airport to the U.S. for most Australians, and Hollywood was already a popular corporate destination for well-heeled execs in the Australian entertainment industry, said Brad Burlingame, Visit West Hollywood’s CEO.

“At the time, Australia was tracking at about 4th or 5th” in terms of the number of visitors to West Hollywood from overseas, noted Burlingame, who pushed the organization’s board into going after the Australian market. From those numbers, “we knew there was strong interest,” he said.