View From Afar S1, E10: IPW 2025 | Adam Burke, President and CEO of Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board

I’m Michelle Baran, deputy editor at Afar. Welcome to View From Afar, a podcast that spotlights the people and ideas shaping the future of travel. And in this special series, I’m coming to you live from the floor of IPW, the annual travel conference organized by the U.S. Travel Association to share the best of America with the rest of the world.

This year the conference is held in Chicago. And it’s a rather interesting year to be talking about travel in the United States: In March 2025, data from the World Travel & Tourism Council showed that international visits to the U.S. had decreased, resulting in an estimated $12 billion loss in tourism revenue. At the same time, the country is gearing up for America’s 250th anniversary—and the energy is palpable. So at IPW, my colleague Billie Cohen and I sat down with travel industry leaders and executives to bring you the biggest conference news and insights, and to share what’s on the horizon for America’s 250th birthday.

You’ll hear each of those conversations over the following week.

In this episode, we’re talking with Adam Burke, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board. Adam joined the organization as chief operating officer in 2016. He stepped up as interim CEO in April 2020, then officially entered the role in August. He brings more than 30 years of travel and tourism experience to the job. Before LA Tourism, Adam spent 17 years at Hilton Worldwide, where he ran the award-winning Hilton Honors loyalty program.

It’s been a tough start to 2025 for Los Angeles—and for Adam’s leadership. In January, the city experienced catastrophic wildfires that burned over 55,000 acres and destroyed more than 16,000 structures. More recently, the city again made headlines during protests that saw the contentious deployment of National Guard troops. Adam has worked diligently to promote the message that LA is open for business, and that tourism can serve as a critical lifeline for the city’s workforce and impacted communities.

Welcome, Adam!

Transcript

Michelle: Welcome, Adam!

Adam: Thank you.

Michelle: So we’re gonna jump right into it. Looking ahead with major events like the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics, how are you positioning LA’s Recovery as an opportunity rather than just getting back to where you were?

Adam: It’s a great question, and actually the first thing I want to do is just say thank you, because after the January wildfires, the outpouring of support from across the global travel and tourism community was amazing.

And the terrific news is that LA is fully open for business. Every one of our attractions are up and running, and the best way people can support recovery is by continuing to come to LA. But you’re exactly right. I would put it under the heading of, I’d rather be lucky than smart. Because a lot of the focus has been on 28, and certainly when LA hosts the [Olympic] games, it will become the first U.S. city to have hosted three times.

So really, I think what all of these major events do is it really shines a global spotlight on everything that’s new and exciting about LA, and you know, as someone who I was born and raised in Chicago, but LA’s been my adoptive home for 30 years, that’s the thing I love more than anything else. It’s constantly evolving. So what I would say to people is, even if you’ve been to LA in the last five years. You haven’t seen everything that’s yet to come, so it’s just an amazing showcase.

Michelle: I also spoke with Carolyn Beteta at Visit California about, you know, there’s a little bit of a misconception that these big sporting events are a huge opportunity, when in fact, in some ways, those, you know, sports enthusiasts, they’re going to come no matter what. So it’s a little bit different than your traditional leisure market that comes into the city. How are you balancing sort of that promotion and the excitement around those big sporting events while also talking about exciting hotels and museums and other happenings that are maybe more relevant to your regular leisure traveler?

Adam: I think there are several key takeaways. One is, you don’t have to wait until those major events come to come enjoy everything that’s there. I mean, in Los Angeles, we’re fortunate we don’t have to build anything new for either the World Cup or the Olympics.

So for example, for sports enthusiasts, we have 11 professional sports teams. That’s the most in the country. So whether you want to see Shohei Ohtani at Dodgers Stadium, whether you want to see a football match from Angel City or LEFC or the Galaxy, we have three professional soccer teams.

And one of the things we learned talking to other host committees is, in the run up to a major event, often you see a decline in visitation. So one of the things we’re doing is working very hard to make sure that people know actually the perfect time to visit LA is anytime because it’s not going to be, oh, they’re going to be, you know, pardon our dust, we’re working our way up to the games. We’re ready for it now.

The second thing is really engaging our local business community, because when you look at all of these major events. It’s a huge opportunity to showcase our neighborhoods. One of the things I love is that LA is truly one of the most diverse and inclusive communities on the planet. Angelinos come from 140 different countries, speak over 220 different languages. I think that’s why we’re really such a great host city for these global events because visitors from around the world don’t just feel welcome. They really feel embraced and at home in the community.

Michelle: Right. And one thing that’s also great is that you do benefit from some of the infrastructure upgrades. We have to talk a little bit about LAX, and there’s been a lot of changes there. Where do things stand with LAX and is it going to be ready for the Olympics?

Adam: Well, it’s funny you say that, because for those of us who live in Los Angeles, no one’s more excited than us about what’s happening out at LAX. As you know, they’re in the middle of a multi-billion dollar modernization and so much of the work has already been done. For example, when we hosted IPW last year, there were a lot of delegates who hadn’t been to LA in five, 10 years, and they’ve never been to the West Gates at Tom Bradley, so they didn’t realize we have this new state-of-the-art terminal totally biometrically enabled.

Just about a week and a half ago, I was at the grand opening of Metro’s direct connection from LAX to downtown Los Angeles. That’s now open, so you can finally take public transportation from LAX. And early next year, we’re going to see the automated people mover open. So the enhancements at LAX are incredible.

Yes, we are still a little bit in the, pardon our dust phase, but it’s like seeing time lapse photography. For me, as much as I travel, to see the progress they’ve made is remarkable. So that infrastructure has really changed the guest experience.

Michelle: It’s very exciting. We’re all excited about the changes in enhancements there. So you mentioned the challenges, and the wildfires earlier this year have been called the most catastrophic in LA’s history.

As someone who leads an organization with 540,000 tourism workers, what was your immediate response and how did you balance empathy for those affected with the economic realities of keeping the industry afloat?

Adam: So I think the first thing is, you have to put context around it. There’s no question that the wildfires were absolutely catastrophic for the residential communities in the Palisades, Altadena, and parts of Malibu. That was really heartbreaking to see.

But that said, one of the things we learned from previous natural disasters in other parts of the world is, it’s really important to educate people about what the impact was. So Visit California’s field of research they found that the average American traveler believed that 41% of the region had been damaged by the wildfires.

Again, while it was absolutely tragic for those communities that were affected, it’s actually less than 2% of the region, and we had so much support with people saying, what can we do to help your community? The biggest answer is, please continue coming to Los Angeles. And I’m so thrilled to say that every one of our attractions is completely open for business, but I think the really important thing is we have a responsibility and an amazing platform to really help lift up our community in a time like that.

And a great example is what we did with our Dine LA program. So Dine LA is one of the largest restaurant week events in the country. It’s actually two weeks long, and we had over 420 participating restaurants. We were supposed to launch Dine LA literally 10 days after the fires. So we reached out to our advisory board from the restaurant community saying, first of all, do you want us to move ahead? Because we wanted to be very respectful of the community. And they said, not only do we want you to move ahead, we need you to, because I think it’s fair to say across the country that the restaurant community was hardest hit by the pandemic. So, not only did we move forward, but we actually, LA Tourism made a $5 contribution to the American Red Cross’ wildfire relief efforts for every single Dine LA reservation made.

And Bank of California came in with a matching grant. So Dine LA starts at a $15 price point all the way up to really exclusive dinners for $85. That means you could spend $15 on lunch and $10 if it went to wildfire relief. So that was so significant. We were actually able to give a hundred thousand dollars check to the American Red Cross, just through Dine LA. And we did that through a lot of our programming and we’re just so grateful for how the community showed up. Right, to support not just the restaurants but, by eating at your favorite restaurant, you could also support those in need.

Michelle: And I’m just curious, whether some of those learnings were also applicable to the recent protests, which again, had a similar theme in that it was concentrated in a small area. But again, on the news, it’s hard to know where these things are. And so were you able to apply some of the education process and the marketing messages following the wildfires to the protest situation?

Adam: Yeah, you’re spot on. It felt like deja vu because it was very much, again, about a misperception of what was happening.

I think the first thing people need to know is that I would say 99% of all of the demonstrations were done responsibly, peacefully, lawfully. There were isolated incidents, but as you said, they were literally occurring in about a one square mile area within downtown. So even the rest of downtown, I work right downtown and we didn’t see it or feel it. And I think part of that is really a testament to the fact that Angelenos were coming out to speak up, but in a way that was very responsible. And I’m thrilled to share that while Mayor Bass had put in a curfew just as a precautionary measure, as of this moment talking to you, she’s lifted the curfew.

So, you know, downtown is really getting back to business and I would say that it’s completely safe, and coming to Los Angeles now is more important than it’s ever been.

Michelle: Right. And I swear this will be my last question about crises.

Adam: No, totally fair.

Michelle: This isn’t your first crisis you took over during the pandemic in 2020. So how did your experience navigating COVID recovery inform your approach to any crisis?

Adam: Yeah. I think there are great lessons to take away from it. For me, one of the biggest ones, and you know, our team has heard me say this before, but I think one of the biggest fallacies of the pandemic was “no one saw this coming.”

Well, unfortunately, there was a group of people who were shouting from the rooftops for about a decade, and that was scientists who were in epidemiology saying, Hey, everyone, you know, global pandemics, running historical cycles. We’re probably about 20 to 30 years overdue, and no one, myself included, heeded those warnings.

So I think what we took away was, imagine if, starting in 2010, we had been putting in the right mitigation strategies, knowing that there was going to be a pandemic in 2020. So I think the lesson we’ve applied moving forward is there are going to be other disruptions to our business, and I think the organizations that are going to be most successful are those that are completely prepared for those contingencies and already have plans in place.

Hopefully no more crises, but you know, whether it was what happened in January with the wildfires or the misperceptions about what happened over the last week and a half, we already have the plans in place to be very responsible and to put our community first, but to also realize the most important thing you can do is be a source of trusted and reliable information and be agile enough to shift your programming in real time.

Michelle: Right. No more getting caught off guard like that. So as the board chair of Tourism Diversity Matters, you’re someone who champions the concept of ensuring that everyone feels welcome. At a time when there are concerns about how our national policies, particularly related to border control and immigration, could make some international visitors feel unwelcome, how do you plan to get that message out, especially as Los Angeles prepares to host these major international sporting events?

Adam: I think that’s one of the reasons why IPW is so critically important this year. When you walk around the floor, you can feel this energy and positivity. And it’s because I think people in our industry recognize that—first of all—travel and tourism really has always been one of the best forms of diplomacy. It really builds bridges between people. And you know, I think that’s one of the things we’ll continue to advocate for. U.S. Travel’s done a terrific job. I have the privilege of serving on the travel and tourism advisory board, and I think the way we’re framing it is, the most important thing for the U.S. is to recognize that tourism has always been one of our nation’s biggest service exports. And so we’re deeply concerned about anything that would create a negative perception of the U.S. as a travel destination. So I’ll talk about LA in a second, but I think one of the biggest things we need to do is ensure that Brand USA is reauthorized.

It’s remarkable that prior to 2009, we didn’t have a national tourism office and our share of international visitation was anemic. They have generated $24 for every dollar they spent over the last 15 years. And that 24 to one ROI doesn’t go to brand USA. It goes to destinations across the country.

And I think the thing that’s really important is, it goes to secondary smaller destinations who wouldn’t have a voice or a presence internationally without Brand USA. So I think that’s one of the most important things, is to make sure that Brand USA is reauthorized, and that we really rebalance, because we had a trade surplus for tourism of about $53 billion before the pandemic.

That’s now gone the other way, where we’ve swung about a hundred billion dollars. There’s about a $50 billion trade deficit. So we’ve all gotta lean in together, right, because it’s critical for, you know, the 16 million or so people who work in this industry.

Michelle: It’s so true. And you said you were going to talk a little bit about LA and getting out that welcoming message, specifically in LA.

Adam: Yeah. The thing I love about the way our creative team has always approached this is for all of our messaging, we don’t tend to cast talent. We actually cast real Angelenos. So in every spot you look at over the last few years, first of all, you’re going see a very authentic representation of our community.

You’'ll always hear us talk about LA as one of the most diverse and inclusive destinations on the planet, because that’s already how people authentically perceive us. We know from our own research. So, you know, for us, it’s just staying true to the messaging we’ve always had.

It’s kind of in our DNA as a destination. But I think the most important thing is to really celebrate the people of Los Angeles. Everyone knows the things that are iconic about LA, but we want people to go deeper. We want them to see historic South LA, which is one of the richest cultural and heritage districts in the country.

We want them to go to Bull Heights, to Little Tokyo, to Koreatown, to Little Armenia. We really want them to understand that if you come to LA, you can pretty much see the world without ever leaving the community.

Michelle: And so, you know, there’s been highs, there’s been lows, we’ve got big events coming, we’ve had challenges. But also just overall, what’s your vision for LA 10 years from now?

Adam: Well, I think the first thing I would say is for tourism to be done responsibly. I really do believe it has to be delivered sustainably and equitably. Zero question. So there’s some things that we’ve done from a very tangible standpoint in terms of sustainability. We became the first urban destination in the country to join the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and we took the lead in doing the comprehensive GSTC assessment, which, as I’m sure you know, ties directly back to the UN Sustainable Development goals.

So we actually are going to be rolling out a comprehensive destination sustainability plan that’s not just about us as the DMO, we’re going to be working with our partners at the city and the county and the private sector, because it’s gotta be sustainability for the entire destination.

The second thing is when you talk about making sure that it’s more equitable and more inclusive, again, that ties back to the UN SDGs when they talk about poverty alleviation, good paying jobs, innovative cities. So we’ve actually been working hard with a lot of our partners. We have a program called Empower LA that is designed to really elevate small, diverse-owned businesses and make sure that they have access to the power of tourism, including doing things like tourism readiness training, teaching a small business, how do you really tap into international visitation? How can you be part of the supply chain for a citywide convention? So it’s really about elevating our community.

So my goal, if I were to look 10 years down the road, actually, it’s going to be interesting. It’s not about how many visitors we have. It’s about what it does for our community. Right now, there are about 540,000 people employed in the industry. My dream would be 10 years from now that there are a million people employed in our industry. I think that’s the ultimate barometer of success, is what it does for Angelenos.

Michelle: And then just the 30-second challenge. Not the PR pitch for why you should visit LA, but when your friends or family come to town, where do you take them? What are you doing with them? Give us the local’s guide.

Adam: So the local tea is, first of all, I tell my friends, do not try and drive everywhere. One of the best ways of enjoying LA is car-free. So what I would suggest is pick a couple neighborhoods, spend a few days in each, and really do a deep dive. You’ll be able to walk everywhere.

So for me, for example, one of my favorites is the Arts District because it combines some of the most amazing free public street art in the world by renowned artists like Shepard Fairy, who actually designed our new logo, David Choe, Mister Cartoon. But it also has incredible architecture, boutique hotels that have a lot of adaptive reuse, great restaurants.

Or maybe you want to ride your bike up the Pacific ocean on the strand. I think that really the best LA experience is where you do a deep dive and pick a couple neighborhoods. And get a feel for what it’s like to be a local, and that’s where you’ll really discover the real authentic Los Angeles.

Thanks for joining us for this episode of View From Afar. In the show notes, you’ll find links to everything we discussed today, as well the Los Angeles Tourism website and social media handles and our recent LA coverage. And be sure to follow along this week to hear more interviews with industry experts.

You can find more Views From Afar on afar.com. And be sure to follow us on Instagram and TikTok. We’re @AfarMedia. If you enjoyed today’s exploration, I hope you’ll come back for more great interviews. Subscribing always makes that easy. And be sure to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platforms. It helps other travelers find it.

This has been View From Afar, a production of Afar Media. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland, with assistance from Michelle Baran and Billie Cohen. Music composition from Epidemic Sound. This podcast is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Visit AirwaveMedia.com to listen and subscribe to their other fine shows like Culture Kids and The Explorers Podcast.