Tokyo will be the site of the first overseas office of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau, Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan said Monday.
Riordan is visiting Japan with a business and friendship mission comprised of business leaders, members of the LACVB and representatives from the city's airport and port authorities. The Tokyo office, which will open in April, will provide up-to-date information about tourist and other attractions in Los Angeles to travel agencies and other industry organizations as well as promote the city to individual travelers.
George Kirkland, president of LACVB, said the Tokyo office is part of an initiative to increase the number of visitors from the city's five leading sources of foreign tourists -- Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Great Britain and Germany -- by 18 percent over the next three years. Tourism is Los Angeles' third leading industry.