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The number of tourists to L.A. & Las Vegas tops the entire population of Argentina

Donald, a tough dollar and internationally reported attacks haven't 'Trumped' on the USA's tourism industry over the past year, in fact it's done the complete opposite over on the West Coast.

Donald, a tough dollar and internationally reported attacks haven’t ‘Trumped’ on the USA’s tourism industry over the past year, in fact it’s done the complete opposite over on the West Coast.

Both Las Vegas and Los Angeles – two right-of-passage cities for most Aussies heading to the US for the first time – revealed today that last year the number of arrivals spiked so high, they broke previous visitor arrival records.

Over in L.A., some 47.3 million people travelled to the City of Angels (or if you prefer the La La Land nickname, City of Stars) – that’s not only more than the entire population of Argentina (43.8 million or 41.4 million – depending on the source), but an incredible 1.7 million increase on 2015.

The 3.8 percent jump in visitation was from both the domestic marker (40.2 million) and international market (7.1 million), including 430,000 Aussies, a rise from 425,000 the prior year.

Los Angeles

Meanwhile, for the third consecutive year, the Entertainment Capital of the World aka Las Vegas experienced historic visitation growth over the year with some 42.9 million visitors.

The city surpassed 2015’s record-setting 42.3 million tourist numbers thanks to mostly leisure travellers, but also a large 6.3 million MICE travellers.

Needless to say, the USA’s West Coast is like anything Star Wars right now – super hot, hot, hot.

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Both cities recognised the financial contributions tourists contributed to each of their local economies last year, and have set their tourism goals audaciously high for next year and the remaining three years of the decade.

L.A.’s Mayor Garcetti said he’s aiming for 50 million by 2020, while Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s President and CEO, Rossi Ralenkotter, is focused on topping 43 million visitors by the end of the current 12 months.

“Global desire for the Los Angeles experience is at an all-time high, a fact largely attributable to our city’s celebration of diversity and creativity, from which thriving culinary, cultural and lifestyle scenes have emerged.”

Ernest Wooden Jr., Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board President & CEO

Vegas’ Ralenkotter said his city is also seeing increasing interest and he’s looking forward to “aggressively marketing” the destination to break more records.

“Together with our resort partners, we look forward to aggressively marketing the destination around the world to continue attracting more visitors and break the record again this year.”

Rossi Ralenkotter, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s President and CEO

Is Las Vegas or L.A. on your bucketlist for 2017?