In the L.A. Times article L.A. County hotels see record occupancy rates in July, Hugo Martin indicates that Los Angeles is benefiting from resurgent travel demand and that tourism in the L.A. region “has rebounded from the economic downturn.”

“Hotels in L.A. County reported that an average of 83.9% of all rooms were booked in July, the highest rate in at least 25 years.”

Rising hotel occupancy is being driven by increasing numbers of visitors from China, Japan, Australia, as well as Europe and the Middle East. Americans also appeared to have loosened the travel purse strings as well.

LAX passenger traffic was up 2% in July over a year ago.

The Los Angeles Convention Center will host 24 conventions in 2012, the most since 2001.

According to a MMGY Global and Harrison Group survey, “26% of vacationers this year said they preferred upscale hotels and resorts compared with just 15% in 2011”

“Luxe hotels in Bel-Air, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles reported an 11% increase in revenue this summer over the summer of 2011 and an 18% increase year to date.”

According to Javier Cano, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotel in Los Angeles, “I think Los Angeles is faring better than the overall country.”

These indicators are supported by recent Los Angeles regional employment trends. In July 2012, accommodation and food service job gains accounted for nearly a quarter of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metro area’s overall job growth. In July, employment in the accommodation and food services industry sector was up 4.1% from a year earlier. Employment in the accommodation subsector had grown 5.9% over the year and at 42,800 jobs and has surpassed the previous May 2008 pre-recession peak.

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