ONTARIO, C.A.,- Officials from the cities of Los Angeles and Ontario announce Thursday that the protracted battle between the two cities over control of LA/Ontario International Airport has ended with a deal to return the facility to Ontario.

“The aviation sector plays a substantial and vital role in our local economy,” said Michael Krouse, President & CEO of Greater Ontario Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The anticipated improvements to efficiently market and increase traffic to Ontario International Airport under new leadership is extremely important to our hospitality and tourism industry. This is an important part of the puzzle and as we prepare to open the California Welcome Center at Ontario Mills in the spring of 2016, we will have all the pieces to build a dynamic marketing piece to continue our efforts to bring national and international visitors to our destination.”

Hotel lodging data Reporting Gains for Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga

According to a recent  report by the Greater Ontario Convention & Visitors Bureau, 1 out of every 5 jobs added in 2013 was in the Leisure and Hospitality sector. In Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga there were 1,251 new jobs or 17.6% of all new jobs in the past year attributed to growth in the hotel industry.  The 2014 results were greater than 2013 and they anticipate that the growth trend will continue through 2015. 

Hotel lodging data  reports Year over Year for Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga shows the following growth data for the reporting month of June 2015:

• Ontario occupancy is 79.40%, up 10.70% YOY with Full Services hotels leading the way, up 14.10% YOY
• Rancho Cucamonga occupancy is 86.20%, up 4.10% YOY
• Ontario ADR is $82.96 up 7.9% with full service hotels leading the way, up 8.90% YOY
• Rancho Cucamonga ADR is $115.56 up 9.70%
• Ontario RevPAR is $65.89 up 19.50% with limited service hotels leading the way, up 21.50% YOY
• Rancho Cucamonga RevPAR is $99.53 up 14.30%

In fact, there has been such rapid growth that organizations who track lodging have identified the Greater Ontario area as a sub-market for reporting purposes.  For the first time, “The Southern California Lodging Forecast” by PKF Consulting USA has identified the Ontario / Rancho Cucamonga area as a distinct sub-market within the Inland Empire.  Prior forecasts only reported on the overall Inland Empire.

The economic recovery for the Inland Empire continues and that is having a positive impact on hotel occupancy and the average daily rate.  According to IHS Global Insight, Economic growth for the Inland Empire is also looking very bright, and is actually predicted to be the highest in California, growing at an average annual rate of 4.2 percent through 2020 and beating out both Phoenix and Houston.

Nationally, Travel Rally Day in the month of May is a concerted effort to demonstrate travel’s positive impact on local workers, businesses and economies—and, of course, on the personal lives of travelers. Individual events are staged in cities nationwide during National Travel and Tourism Week.  The goal of Rally Day is to unite the local travel community with supporters and to publicly represent the importance of travel.

Travel Facts

• Travel and tourism is one of America’s largest industries
• Generated $2.1 trillion in economic output in 2014, with $927.9 billion spent directly by domestic and international travelers.
• Directly generated $141.5 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments.
• Direct spending by resident and international travelers in the U.S. averaged $2.5 billion a day, $105.8 million an hour, $1.8 million a minute and $29,398 a second.
• Each U.S. household would pay $1,147 MORE IN TAXES without the tax revenue generated by the travel industry.
• Travel and tourism is America’s largest services export industry
• $220.6 billion in travel exports (international travelers paid a total of $43.7 billion in passenger fare receipts)
• Travel now accounts for 10 percent of all U.S. exports of goods and services (as of February2015).
• The U.S. travel and tourism industry generated nearly $74 billion in trade surplus for the U.S. economy in 2014.
• Travel and tourism is one of America’s largest employers
• Travel supports 15 million jobs in the U.S.—8 million direct tourism jobs and 7 million indirect and induced jobs.
• One in every 9 American jobs depends on travel.
• $221.7 billion in travel-generated payroll for those employed directly in U.S. travel industry.
• Travel is among the top 10 industries in 49 states and D.C. in terms of employment.
• Since the employment recovery began, the travel industry has added 865,600 jobs and has outpaced job growth in the rest of the economy by 37 percent.