TRAVEL AGENCIES/VENDORS.

Ranked by number of full-time L.A. County employees

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

TOTAL spending by L.A. County visitors this year could top the $13 billion mark for the first time, according to the L.A. Convention and Visitors Bureau. Nationwide, travel and tourism generated $86.7 billion in tax revenues for federal, state and local governments in 1999.

In spite of this exuberant spending, travel agencies have been forced to reassess their business models because of the proliferation of travel services available over the Internet, coupled with limits or caps on commissions imposed by airlines. To accommodate reduced profits, smaller travel agencies have banded together, forming larger super agencies that can share overhead expenses. In addition, many now charge service fees for each ticket issued.

The World Travel and Tourism Council estimates that over the next five years, U.S. travel and tourism will grow 40 percent to more than $710 billion in revenue. In the next 10 years, 2 million new jobs will be created in travel and tourism in the United States, the council projects.

THE PACESETTER

PLEASANT HOLIDAYS LLC 

PLEASANT Holidays of Westlake Village is the parent of several travel-related businesses generating annual revenues in excess of $400 million and employing more than 1,700 people. They include Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, Pleasant Mexico Holidays, Pleasant Tahitian Holidays, Pleasant South Pacific Holidays, Japan & Orient Tours, Destinations Plus, Westlake Travel Service, Pleasant Island Holidays and Vacations Acceptance Co. Pleasant Holidays' founder, Chairman and CEO Ed Hogan sees his people as travel architects and designers."

Hogan and his wife Lynn also own four hotels in Hawaii, and their hotel ownership/management company, Hawaiian Hotels and Resorts, is also under the Pleasant Holidays umbrella.

The largest travel company serving Hawaii, Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays now offers four new non-stop flights from Chicago and New York each week, along with its custom-designed flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles. Each November, the company offers an air pass to Hawaii for the forthcoming year, at a fixed price, which allows the traveler unlimited use throughout the year.

Ed and Lynn Hogan created the nonprofit Hogan Family Foundation in October 1998. It operates educational, humanitarian and civic-minded programs. Its most recent venture is to build a series of California Mission Inn motels located near California's historic missions, with all the net profits going toward the restoration and maintenance of the state's missions. The plan is to provide moderately priced, comfortable accommodations in close proximity to individual sites, where families can enjoy the entire mission experience.