The Californian city has seen a major decline in international visitors since 2019, having lost roughly half its foreign overnight guest volume over the past seven years.
The economic blow of this fall has been aggravated by a 66% drop in Chinese tourists, who previously represented Beverly Hills’ largest overseas spender.
Julie Wagner, Chief Executive Officer at Beverly Hills Conference & Visitors Bureau, is now on a mission to recover this loss – and that starts with re-educating the trade on the glitzy city’s lesser-known perks.
‘We are our own city’
Beverly Hills’ tourism authority is determined to distinguish itself from Los Angeles, emphasising how it operates entirely independently of the sprawling metropolis.
“A lot of people think we’re just a neighbourhood in Los Angeles, but that’s not true,” Wagner said. “We’re actually a municipality [surrounded by Los Angeles], and that means we have our own revenue stream.”
Nowhere is Beverly Hills’ separate revenue stream more obvious than in the quality of its civic maintenance.
Roads are freshly paved, sidewalks are regularly power-washed and litter is removed almost immediately. There’s also strict monitoring on noise levels, with construction and landscaping work only permitted during certain hours of the week.
Beverly Hills’ abundant greenery is another major distinguisher; the city has invested in an urban forestry programme, which is responsible for managing a growing collection of 33,000 street trees.
“You really feel the difference when you step across the border from Los Angeles – our public works are excellent,” Wagner said.
‘A blueprint for other police forces’
Perhaps one of the most significant pulls of Beverly Hills’ municipality status, however, is its robust security infrastructure.
“We pay so much attention to safety,” Wagner said. “Nobody wants to look over their shoulder when they walk out their front door. And I think because of the city's investment in safety, it’s a big attraction.”
Wagner believes Beverly Hills has set “the blueprint for other police forces in the United States”, highlighting the extremely fast response times of its first-responders.
“If you’re dealing with the LAPD [Los Angeles Police Department[ and you make an emergency call, it takes a while for them to come. In Beverly Hills, it's two to three minutes,” she said. “So that gives you a comparison of why somebody might want to stay here.”
Beverly Hills’ Police Department has also heavily invested in surveillance technology, maintaining one of the densest CCTV networks in all of North America.
“We have a watch centre where we have CCTVs all over the city, and if officers in the watch centre see something [suspicious], they send out a drone,” said Wagner. “And then a police officer can be right there on a dime. We like to say this is not a place you’d want to come and commit a crime.”
‘Home base’
Wagner isn’t trying to encourage international visitors to shun Los Angeles altogether, however.
Instead, the industry veteran proposes using Beverly Hills as their temporary address – a haven to return to every evening after exploring the LA sites.
“I don't think people should stay in this little bubble and you never venture out,” she explained. “But instead, they could use it as their home base. We’re in the centre of everything, so they can go to the beach, downtown, the Getty or Disneyland – and then, at night, they can come back here and feel safe and secure.”
