The Anaheim Convention Center regularly plays host to groups of 50,000 or more, but when 1,700 delegates of La Cumbre, a Latin American travel trade show, came to town last week, it was a big day for area tourism officials.
The show is a regional version of POW WOW, an international travel trade show put on by the Travel Industry Association of America that is widely seen as the premier travel event for a city to host. But Anaheim/Orange County Visitor and Convention Bureau officials,who will host Pow Wow in 2007,believe landing La Cumbre was the precursor of things to come in Orange County.
La Cumbre, hasn’t been held west of the Mississippi before, so simply landing the business was a coup for OC, officials said. About a third of the attendees are tourism buyers who are expected to book about $1.2 billion in business here over the next three years.
“We think (the show) will open the eyes of people here to the benefits of the Latin American market, ” said the bureau’s manager of tourism development Phil Hannes, who was instrumental in selling La Cumbre on Anaheim.
Hannes, who said the bureau has spent “years” pursuing the Latin American market, believes Anaheim,and Orange County as a whole,are ahead of the curve in selling tourism to that region. He pointed to a maturing Florida market, added flights to Southern California and an interest by Latin American consumers in destinations such as OC. “Our mission is to bring the Latin American market here,” he said.
International visitors made up about 10% of the 38 million people who came to OC last year, according to U.S. Commerce Department figures, with Mexico and Brazil making up the biggest chunk from Latin America. During the next three years, growth from South America is expected at a rate of 20% and from Central America and Mexico about 13%. Other markets with the biggest growth potential are Argentina and Venezuela.
Vivian Vasallo, an international trade specialist for the Department of Commerce, told attendees at the La Cumbre news conference that Latin American visitors last year represented about 30% of all international visitors to the Southland. By 2003, she said, that number is expected to climb to 15 million,or about half of all global visitors.
Rick Still, managing director for La Cumbre, told the audience that Latin Americans spent $19.1 billion in the U.S. last year. Still said one purpose of bringing the conference to Anaheim was to “spread the message of Latin American business opportunities for U.S. markets.”
Another purpose, he said, was “to demonstrate that the Latin American market would come anyplace in our country.”
Still said that not a lot of cities are yet attuned to the projected growth. “Not everyone gets it,” he said. “But Anaheim does.” n
