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Top Olympians and Parlaympians will ride the City of Los Angeles’ flower-studded float celebrating its 2024 Olympic and Paralympic bid at the 128th Rose Parade on January 2, 2017. Created in partnership with LA 2024 and the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (L.A. Tourism), L.A.’s “Follow the Sun” float will bring to life the city’s iconic venues and will feature Olympic and Paralympic legends including Nadia Comaneci, Bart Conner, Lex Gillette and April Ross. L.A.'s commitment to sport and healthy living will be further represented on the float by several young Angeleno athletes with the LA84 Foundation, the youth sports non-profit funded by the success of the 1984 Games.

The landmark Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will stand tall at the front of the float, with a flame burning atop its cauldron, as L.A.'s new Olympic logo - LA 2024’s Angel - flies high above the Coliseum's famed peristyle. Framed by stylized sculptures of Los Angeles’ signature palm trees, the Coliseum is flanked by stunning floral arrangements made up of Bird of Paradise flowers, the official flower of Los Angeles. And in celebration of L.A.'s diverse recreational activities, breathtaking landscapes and scenic coastline, live beach volleyball will take place at the float’s center, surrounded by floral illustrations of crystalline crashing waves. At the rear of the float will be L.A.’s biggest star, a larger-than-life sculpture of the setting sun.

The float marks the City of L.A.’s 119th consecutive year collaborating with Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, making it one of the longest running float entries in Rose Parade history. Designed by the renowned Fiesta Parade Floats, the float will be comprised of more than 20,000 total roses, mums and carnations as well as natural materials such as seeds, rice and moss. No local taxpayer dollars were used in the creation or production of the City of L.A.’s float.

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Prepare to ring in the Year of the Rooster with a webinar by L.A. Tourism and China Luxury Advisors geared towards helping members activate their China-Ready program in 2017. The webinar will cover:

-    A Year of the Rooster overview
-    Recommendations for planning for Chinese New Year activation
-    Do’s and Don’ts for Chinese New Year
-    Chinese New Year case studies
-    Trends for 2017 Chinese tourism

Wednesday, December 14, 2016
10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Cost: $25 per person for each training webinar

To register, please click here.

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Did you know that green hotels in L.A. save on water, energy & waste disposal costs? Many convention and meeting planners also consider green venues essential. Because of these benefits and more we are excited to tell you about the new Green4Green incentive program that helps L.A. hotels go green & become Green Seal certified. Hotels will get cash back & save up to $2,400 when they apply for Green Seal certification. We are thrilled to be a partner on this as part of the L.A. Green Lodging Program. Other partners include the City of Los Angeles, L.A. Better Buildings Challenge, the Hotel Association of Los Angeles and Green Seal.

Read more about the program, the benefits of being certified and how to become certified here: http://bit.ly/Green4GreenLA

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The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners continued its commitment to reinvent Los Angeles International airport (LAX) as the premier U.S. gateway, by voting unanimously to invest in airport infrastructure that will be at the forefront of innovation and technology. With current and future passenger growth at record levels, and an objective to provide a “top tier” passenger experience, commissioners agreed to appropriate funds for a Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) and a related Baggage Optimization Project (BOP). The world-class concourse, designed as an addition to the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT), will include 12 gates in its first phase of construction.  The MSC will provide the flexibility and gate space that LAX needs, and reduce the reliance on the LAX remote gates where passengers are currently bused to board aircraft.

According to AAA, more than 48.7 million Americans are expected to travel during the upcoming Thanksgiving period - the most since 2007. AAA expects expects 1 million more Americans to venture at least 50 miles from home, a 1.9 percent increase over last year.

L.A. County voters passed the Measure M ballot initiative in November's election, commiting to expanding L.A.'s transit system. The half-cent sales tax increase will generate an estimated $120 billion over the next four decades to fund Metro’s ambitious plan to create one of the most advanced transit systems in the country. The expansion will double our region’s mass transit system with new rail lines and long-awaited extensions of existing lines. It will also deliver highway and local street improvements as well as more bicycle and pedestrian connections. Most importantly, it will be instrumental in building the Airport Rail Connector, a new multimodal transportation hub at Aviation Boulevard and 96th Street that will be directly reachable from trains on the future Crenshaw/LAX Line and Green Line. The new station will provide travelers with a direct connection to LAX’s future people mover system which will pick up and drop off passengers at the airport terminals.