Revenge travel making up for the pandemic doldrums might be over, but more visitors continue to make Anaheim their vacation destination.
More than 26 million people in 2024 traveled to Anaheim, according to numbers released this week by Visit Anaheim.
Naturally, many of them were tourists making their way to Disneyland, but the count also includes those visiting the city for business, such as attending a conference at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Visit Anaheim President and CEO Mike Waterman has termed upcoming major events and developments coming to Southern California and Anaheim as a new “golden decade” of opportunity that will increase the number of visitors well beyond where it stands today.
“The future is so bright for tourism, both for visitors and the locals,” Mike Waterman said. “We’ve got the James Beard restaurants, OCVibe and new attractions with DisneylandForward. I’m so bullish for the golden decade.”
Visit Anaheim, which markets the city to travelers and books the convention center, found that about 500,000 more people traveled to Anaheim last year compared to 2023. Visitor spending also hit $6.6 billion in 2024.
The organization wants to shatter the visitation record set this year and bring in 30 million visitors annually by the end of 2028.
That’s when the Olympics will descend upon Southern California, including volleyball at the Honda Center. Paired with developments from OCVibe, which along with adding new housing is planning multiple music venues around the Honda Center, and DisneylandForward well underway, guests will have more reasons to stay in Anaheim and for longer, Waterman said.
“It’s nice to see us making progress toward that goal,” Waterman said. “We still have quite a ways to go. We are excited about the progress and the future.”
Leveraging the most out of the Olympics is the goal of almost every city in Southern California. But Anaheim is unique in OC by having the only event actually in the county (surfing at Lower Trestles south of San Clemente is actually in San Diego County). Spectators will have easy access to the dozens of hotels around the resort area.
One sign of the scramble to maximize the opportunity comes from Disney. The Disneyland Resort’s former president, Ken Potrock, was elevated last year to president of The Walt Disney Company’s major events integration, where he will “focus on maximizing the company’s value during large-scale global events, such as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.”
But there are headwinds buffeting the travel industry.
In January, Waterman said there was a considerable drop in visitors that month due to the LA fires and people avoiding Anaheim, who might have been unaware how far the city was from the fires.
Leisure travel to Anaheim, Waterman said, has been softening, but Visit Anaheim is looking to spend $3 million on a marketing campaign to lure travelers. He pointed to a luxury travel campaign that cost a bit less last year as bringing in $100 million in incremental business.
An ongoing drop in international visitors, especially from Canada, the area’s largest international market, is another critical challenge.
There’s been a prolonged spat this year between Canadian and American leadership over trade and assertions from President Donald Trump that Canada should become the 51st state.
The state’s marketing organization, Visit California, said in an April report that “tariffs, policies and pronouncements from the Trump administration have contributed to a growing wave of negative sentiment toward the US among potential international travelers.”
The forecast for visitors coming from Canada saw the largest decline in the Visit California report.
More Canadians were expected to travel to California compared to pre-pandemic numbers, but recent projections have downgraded that to 19% fewer people visiting this year than in 2019, according to the report.
Full recovery of pre-pandemic international visitors isn’t expected to happen until 2028.
To staunch the bleeding, Visit California launched a “California Loves Canada” campaign and even featured Gov. Gavin Newsom giving his pitch to Canadians deciding where to travel this year.
“California is the ultimate playground — over 2,000 miles from Washington and a world away in mindset,” Newsom said in an April video ad, “from our iconic beaches and national parks to world-class wine, food, and outdoor adventure — there’s something here for everyone. Canada, come experience our California Love.”