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This season has been kindly sponsored by Visit Anaheim. Go to VisitAnaheim.org/meetings to learn more.
What does it take to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion into the DNA of a destination? In this episode of the Convene Podcast, Adam Burke, President & CEO of Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, shares how LA is leveraging its diversity to create opportunities for small, diverse-owned businesses through initiatives like Empower LA. From breaking down barriers to entry and providing readiness training, to creating real opportunities within the event supply chain, Burke outlines how LA Tourism is building a more inclusive and resilient future for the city — and what lessons other destinations can take away.
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Convene Podcast Transcript
How LA Tourism Champions DEI: Adam Burke on Empowering Small Businesses and Inclusive Growth
*Note: the transcript is AI generated, excuse typos and inaccuracies
Magdalina Atanassova: Welcome to this Season eight episode of the Convene Podcast, brought to you by Visit Anaheim.
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Adam Burke,
President and CEO of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board.
Under his leadership, diversity, equity and inclusion have become embedded in the organization's strategy.
Not just in words, but in action.
From the Empower LA program, which supports small, diverse owned businesses,
to efforts that create more equitable opportunities across the event supply chain,
Adam shares lessons on how tourism can drive community impact,
foster economic growth and model inclusion for destinations everywhere.
We start now.
Welcome to the Convene podcast.
Officially. It's nice to have you here.
Adam Burke: Thanks, Magdalina. Pleasure to be here.
Magdalina Atanassova: So you've described LA as one of the most diverse and welcoming destinations in the world. How does that ethos shape LA tourism's DEI strategy today?
Adam Burke: It's really foundational to everything we do and it's one of the things I love most about our community.
Angelenos come from over 140 different countries.
There are over 220 different languages spoken in our community and that really infuses every aspect of the destination,
from our arts and cultural community to entertainment, to live events.
I love it because it truly is a melting pot where cultures and traditions from all over the world come together and are welcomed and embraced. And as a result,
we see this fusion that creates these incredible new opportunities.
Adam Burke: And I, and I think that's really.
Adam Burke: The beauty of travel and tourism. It really is the bridge that allows us to explore other cultures and traditions.
By doing so, we find that we have a lot more in common through our shared humanity than anything that might divide us.
Magdalina Atanassova: Very well said. Let's talk about Empower la. What sparked the idea behind this program and what barriers does it aim to break down for small, diverse businesses?
Adam Burke: Well, I think contextually, first you have to look at our mission as an organization.
Our mission statement is really just one sentence long.
It's to improve the quality of life for all Angelenos through the economic and community benefits of tourism.
So what we do may be tourism, but the reason we do it our why,
if you will,
is to make sure that we're really elevating our community.
And Empower LA comes out of a couple things. One is the realization that travel and tourism is such an incredible platform for making sure that the benefits of tourism are more equitably distributed across the entire region.
And there are some historically underserved communities,
like most urban destinations within Los Angeles,
where we have the opportunity to reach out to the small business community.
And first of all, for those who maybe have never thought of tourism as being a wonderful way to really grow their business and. Or secondly, those who are already engaged with us,
but we want to really give them the tools and resources they need to grow their business.
So the Empower LA program came out of a desire to look at small businesses from neighborhoods like south la, east la,
recognize that there are huge opportunities for them to become part of the supply chain for citywide conventions and major events,
for them to tackle the power of international visitation,
for them to be included in fam tours.
And so the genesis of Empower LA was really for us to do more active outreach to make sure that businesses across the city,
particularly small, diverse owned businesses,
had an equitable opportunity to leverage the incredible economic power of travel and tourism.
Magdalina Atanassova: Speaking of event supply chain,
how does the partnership with Business Connect ensure that diverse owned businesses don't just get visibility, but actual opportunities within the event supply chain that you mentioned?
Adam Burke: That really was the intent of partnering with Business Connect and setting up the Empower LA program was very much about creating real exposure for these small businesses.
So we didn't just provide them with the tools to really leverage the power of tourism, but we provided actual opportunities to put them in front of our customers and even the local businesses, business community.
And I can give you two very recent examples. The Beverly Center Shopping center is actually one of our members and we partnered with them and they actually did an entire one day program where he invited over a dozen of our Empower LA small businesses to come.
And they had all day long the ability to set up shop at the Beverly center, distribute samples, talk about their businesses, and really take advantage of the foot traffic of one of the more popular shopping facilities in la.
So it created exposure for them with the local community.
But the second part of it is really trying to tap into the power of all of the major events coming to Los Angeles.
So starting this weekend, Los Angeles will host ASAE, the American Society of Association Executives. And we've worked very closely with Michelle Mason and her team to create a small business marketplace.
So for the full two days on the convention center floor,
they've been wonderful partners. They've set up a dedicated Empower LA zone on the show floor that will showcase roughly 8 to 10 of our Empower LA members and give ASAE attendees the opportunity to certainly purchase goods from these small, diverse owned businesses, but also to learn more about them.
Because obviously these are major association planners who often are sourcing business in Los Angeles and other destinations.
I think the real benefit is for them to realize that we're able to curate a list of these small, diverse owned businesses. So the next time they plan an event in la,
they can source them for their own needs as well.
Magdalina Atanassova: That's such a wonderful example.
Why was waiving membership dues for the first two years for small Business Connect vendors seen as an important step? And how has the community responded?
Adam Burke: The response has been wonderful. I think part of it is we have to recognize that because historically there have been businesses that have not had equitable access to opportunity,
that the first thing you have to do is remove barriers to entry.
Very many of these are small businesses who they have to be very judicious in how they spend every dollar.
And for us to say, well, we'd like to support you, but first you have to come in and pay membership due.
Creates unnecessary barrier to entry.
So really the goal in waiving dues was twofold. One is to make sure that there was no risk and it was easy for these small businesses to really engage with LA tourism.
But secondly was to then establish enough of a Runway that we could engage in the tourism readiness training I mentioned earlier so we could really build capacity. Because I think that the risk you run is if the goal is to simply bring more small, diverse owned business into membership,
then that unfortunately can be performative.
I think the real metric that you have to look at is after 12 to 24 months, have you made a meaningful difference in enabling these business to actually drive new business sales.
And so that's why waiving membership juice was so important,
is it gave them the opportunity to engage with us and, and over 24 months really create the capacity and the resources to actively engage in travel and tourism.
And that's really our goal. You know, I think the most important success metric is not the number of empower LA members we have,
but rather whether each one of those members saw an increase in their business revenues because of the work they do with LA tourism.
Magdalina Atanassova: And tourism readiness training is such a practical investment. And I wonder what kind of skills and knowledge are you helping these small businesses build? And what kind of transformation have you seen so far?
Adam Burke: It really runs the a pretty wide gambit. I mean, first of all, it's just setting the stage in terms of the power of travel and tourism. I mean, if you look at Los Angeles,
last year alone, visitors to LA generated over $45 billion in local business sales.
So it's just remark how powerful our industry is across the country and around the world. And even when you look at employment right now There are over 540,000 Angelenos working in tourism related careers,
consistently making it one of the top five employment sectors. But what we found is when we started doing more outreach to these businesses.
Candidly, a lot of them had never really thought of tourism as being a viable path to really grow their revenues.
So I think the first thing was just setting the stage by explaining the breadth and depth of travel and tourism. I think when you say travel and tourism to many people, they might think hotels, perhaps airlines, maybe theme parks, but when you start to talk about things like arts and culture,
sports and live entertainment,
culinary community,
major events, a lot of people don't realize that that's part of our ecosystem. And.
And I would argue that professional meetings and events are actually one of the largest unseen drivers of our nation's economy.
And just in a microcosm, when you look at Los Angeles,
2019 was the high watermark for travel and tourism.
It was a record year in L. A. There was about $30 billion in economic impact through leisure travel, but there was $25 billion from professional meetings and events.
And I think, you know, that's why I say it's one of the largest unseen drivers of the economy.
So it's everything from the basics of how can we make sure that we create exposure for empower LA members among event planners and that our client and destination services team really have a curated list ready to go.
So whether you're looking for a caterer,
a florist,
an entertainment company,
live performance goods and services,
that we've already got a small diverse owned business lined up who can really fit that need, because I think so many customers and so many planners are really looking for that.
But the second thing is just we're very fortunate because we have a tremendous sales and marketing team. And a great example is our digital marketing team is actually able to sit with these small businesses and talk about things like how can you really enhance your social media presence in an era where I think social media really has leveled the playing field and kind of democratized access to customers,
really helping them understand what an effective social media strategy looks like really enhances their ability to kind of punch above their weight.
So it really runs the gamut from capacity building around digital marketing, traditional marketing,
how they get engagement with media fams, and at the end of the day,
how they really can present themselves to be a very attractive sourcing option for professional event planners.
Magdalina Atanassova: What are the outcomes or success stories you are most proud of from LA tourism's DEI efforts so far?
Adam Burke: I would say there are several things. I mean, first of all,
it's important to say that Deia is really in our DNA as a destination because it's who our community is. You know, we recognize that the diversity of our community,
I would say that's LA's superpower because I think the rich tapestry of our community is all of these incredible cultures and traditions coming together and being celebrated and embraced.
And as a result,
the whole really is greater than the sum of the parts. It's beautiful to see as both a community member, but from a travel and tourism community.
I think that's one of the reasons why people from around the world still love coming to Los Angeles. We know from our own research that the two most common words people use to describe a visit to Los Angeles is it represents a place of personal freedom because they feel not just welcomed,
but really embraced by the community. So it infuses pretty much everything we do.
But for me it's really,
you know, the small incremental success stories because I think it's fair to say that this is lifetime work, right? The work of creating a more equitable and inclusive travel and tourism community will outlive all of us.
But to me it's things like hearing about, we have a small business member who operates a family owned bakery in South LA in Crenshaw,
and we got a wonderful email from her saying that this was about six months ago,
she had just received her first order for 150 units a week from the Embassy Suites Hotel out at lax.
It's those kind of small stories that really start to add up to very real impact for these businesses.
And we're hearing more and more of that from our Empower LA members that, that it really is giving them a foothold to really grow their business. And so I think it's really being in it for the long haul.
The second thing is just the renewal rates. You know, when we waived membership dues and we had our first cohort of Business Connect members come through Empower la.
You know, there were roughly three dozen of them who renewed as paid LA Tourism members because they saw the value and what we were able to deliver for them.
So I think it's, it's recognizing because there's no finish line to work,
it's going to be every one of the small victories that add up to cumulative impact.
And that applies to other programs we do, like our paid apprenticeship program,
particularly for kids from the community college and junior college system.
And even the way we present ourselves as a destination, I think it's about authentic storytelling and because of LA's diversity and inclusiveness that really is a through line in everything we do.
Magdalina Atanassova: In a time when DEI language is being questioned, or downplayed, how do you keep advancing this work in ways that remain both impactful and inclusive?
Adam Burke: I think the most important thing, first of all is there's a wonderful book by Heather McGee called the Sum of Us.
And in the Sum of Us, she does a beautiful job of articulating the fact that being more inclusive and embracing the diversity of not just our community, but our nation actually strengthens our entire nation.
It really is one of those things where creating more equitable access and opportunity for all quite literally lifts up everyone.
So I think part of it is really focusing on outcomes.
You know, the language may change over time,
and I certainly respect and recognize that there are those who've kind of evolved the language based on what their realities are. But I think the most important thing is to not lose sight that the work and the outcomes are more important than whatever language we use around it.
And I think that's one of the ways that we've really talked about it is let's not get hung up so much on the verbiage we use.
Let's focus more on what are the long term, measurable results we're trying to drive.
And I think, you know, that would be,
you know, we're in conversation about this constantly with colleagues across the country.
And as long as we're still focusing on the work, I think that's the most important thing. Because what Heather McGee does powerfully in the Sum of Us is articulate that if we focus on building a more equitable and inclusive society and every single American benefits,
regardless of race, ethnicity,
sexual orientation,
gender identity, any number of other things,
really, embracing diversity and inclusiveness makes us a stronger nation,
not the reverse.
Magdalina Atanassova: Indeed,
for other destinations or DMOs. Listening, what lessons has LA Tourism learned about integrating DEI meaningfully into every facet of its strategy?
Not just as a campaign,
but as a coach, as you said.
Adam Burke: Actually, that's. It's a great question because there have been some very tangible lessons learned when we first started down this road because there were a lot of things that we had just done intrinsically because that's really who our community is.
We set about putting specific measurable goals around equity and inclusion into our business plan every single year.
What we recognized is that by setting them as separate parts of our business plan,
we were actually doing ourselves a disservice because it felt like it was not fully integrated into the work we do. So really, the shift we've made is to recognize that every single business decision we make,
in fact represents an opportunity to create a more equitable and inclusive tourism industry.
And within that context,
the goal that we've really shared with everyone on our team is that really should be a lens for decision making.
So we still have very specific,
measurable goals around what we're trying to achieve.
But the difference is they're not standalone.
They really are fully integrated into everything we do. So when we do our annual business plan,
it becomes a foundational decision making filter for how we plan for the following year. And I think that's been far more effective because that way everyone is thinking about every part of the business and saying, okay, is there an opportunity here for us to highlight these small and diverse owned businesses?
And that even includes doing, you know, authentic storytelling to celebrate these diverse voices within our own community.
Magdalina Atanassova: I love that. Was there anything we didn't mention we should before we wrap up?
Adam Burke: I think the most important thing to me is to recognize that,
you know, what we're seeing now societally is not unique. If you look back over the decades,
the reality is there have always been ebbs and flows to this work and it's challenging.
I realize there are a variety of perspectives and opinions about this,
and I think the most important thing is just remaining committed to the work and to the outcomes.
And while over time some of the language used may change,
I think it's making a commitment that regardless of kind of the prevailing climate in which we're operating,
that we can't make this performative. This work has to be a lifelong commitment, both personally and professionally.
Because, I mean, if you look back over the last five decades,
there have been times where it's been a real focal point for the industry and there have been times where that interest has waned.
And I think the most important thing is to make it an ongoing through line in our business because it's something that ultimately will lift up everyone. And I think that's the beautiful thing about it, is that by fully embracing this work,
everyone will benefit.
Magdalina Atanassova: I believe that's a wonderful end to our conversation. Thank you so much, Adam, for making the time and sharing some insights from LA tourism.
Adam Burke: My pleasure. Magdalina, thanks so much for having me.
Magdalina Atanassova: Remember to subscribe to the Convene Podcast on your favorite listening platform to stay updated with our latest episodes. We want to thank our sponsor, Visit Anaheim. Go to VisitAnaheim.org/meetings to learn more. For further industry insights from the Convene team, head over to PCMA.org/convene. My name is Maggie. Stay inspired. Keep inspiring. And until next time.