As East Coast Thaws Out, LA Tourism Board Using Palm Trees, Beaches To Draw Visitors From The Big Apple
VENICE (CBSLA) — If you're reading this, odds are you're of the mind that the West Coast is the best coast, and this week's weather puts one point in L.A.'s column.
"It's been a long winter back East, and we were dying for a little sun, and we found it," one Brooklyn native cruising the Venice Boardwalk Tuesday told CBS2 News.
That's the idea the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board is trying to get across to New Yorkers with ads like the one calling Venice's waterways "The New Canal Street" all over New York City.
"Ok, minus the smell of fish and the allure of knockoff handbags," joked former New Yorker Ryan Beatty. He was having lunch on Venice Beach.
One ad that will run on the NYC subway will show a woman in shorts and roller skates surrounded by palm trees, displaying the words "Public Transportation," which, admittedly, is L.A. bragging a bit.
"Just showing off our version of what public transportation is," John Boudouvas, vice president of marketing for the tourism board, told CBS2. "We get over 2 million visitors from New York every year, and they sort of have this love affair for L.A."
The ads will run back East until May, as the snow thaws out. It's an intentional move, said Boudouvas.
Still, at least one former New Yorker said the ads are a little unrealistic.
"You want to sit on the 405 or the 10 all day? Come! Come play here," said Beatty. He did admit you can't beat lunch at the beach. "I mean, yeah, if I was in New York right now, I'd have major FOMO," said Beatty.
Some of the ads can be seen at the tourism board's website discoverlosangeles.com.