LOS ANGELES COUNTY — Tourist spending in Los Angeles County fell in 2025 for the first time since the pandemic, with overall travel spending down 0.1% from the prior year, according to an economic impact report from Visit California. Direct travel spending in the county had grown by an average of close to 3% per year over the previous decade.

The decline in Los Angeles diverged from statewide trends. Direct travel spending across California grew by an average of 2.7% in 2025, and travel demand increased in 55 of the state's 58 counties. Travel spending in the San Francisco Bay Area rose by 2%.

Early in 2025, wildfires burned for weeks in the Los Angeles area. Over the summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids in the city, and foot traffic declined across Southern California, including on Hollywood Boulevard and in Palm Springs.

"Los Angeles faced something no major American city has ever confronted with the wildfires," said Caroline Beteta, Visit California Chief Executive. National travel demand also fell in 2025, according to Visit California.

International air arrivals to Los Angeles County fell by more than 30% between August and November 2025, even as California overall saw a 3% increase in international air arrivals for the year. Arrivals to the state from Canada decreased by 18%, and arrivals from the Middle East decreased by 30%.

"Los Angeles is California's primary global gateway. No other region relies as heavily on international visitation, so when global travel softens, L.A. feels it first and most acutely," Beteta said.

Visitor air spending in the county declined by 8% in 2025, a decrease of approximately $188 million, and tourism jobs in the county decreased by about 1,000. Hotel room revenue in Los Angeles County increased by 4% year over year in the first quarter of 2026.

Mike Duignan, a hospitality expert and professor at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, pointed to broader conditions affecting travel demand. "Less people are going to America, including the West Coast. People don't like Trump, and people aren't traveling because of lots of other geopolitical and political factors," he said. Duignan also noted that "Travel is a luxury product. Significant portions of the market fundamentally choose not to engage when there are price hikes and when there is market uncertainty."

The conflict in Iran has driven up jet fuel and airfare prices in early 2026, and a global jet fuel shortage increased the difficulty and cost of air travel during the same period.