Bringing Conventions to L.A. Isn’t Easy

Re “Visitors Bureau Spent Lavishly,” May 25: For people not familiar with the convention business, it seems that the spending is indeed “lavish.” However, if you want to compete in the convention market with an inferior package such as Los Angeles, you need to do extraordinary things just to get attention. L.A. has been a “near last choice” for conventions for years. The competition from San Francisco, Anaheim, San Diego and Las Vegas for the western cycle of convention groups outranks L.A. in every category. Even Honolulu has entered the arena with a much better package.

The hotel situation in Los Angeles is totally unsatisfactory for major conventions and an overwhelming negative to bringing large groups to the city. It is a tribute to the bureau that anyone books L.A. at all. Without a major convention hotel near the center, L.A. will continue to lag behind the rest of the West and the Convention Center will depend more and more on local shows that bring few overnight visitors to the city.

Councilman Jack Weiss does not understand “the logic of showing someone a good time at a fancy foreign location.” On a foreign mission, you obviously cannot entertain at home. Maybe he should go on a mission and help promote Los Angeles with dinner at McDonald’s. He will quickly realize that he would be the only one chewing on a Big Mac!

Hilmar Rosenast

Valencia