Weeks of Spring Break visitors have already provided a taste of what Laguna Beach neighborhoods and businesses can expect as the summer vacation season nears, and city leaders say they want to get ahead of the anticipated tourism surge.
To prepare and to take the pulse of the beach town’s residents and their priorities, city officials will hold a visitor stewardship town hall on Thursday, April 17.
Last July, after fielding complaints from residents about beachgoers’ bad behavior, city officials embarked on a Google ad and social media campaign asking that visitors obey laws and be respectful in the neighborhoods. But, city officials believed the effort was too late to make an impact and are planning ahead of this next summer return of visitors.
In addition to the town hall, the city is also conducting a community-wide survey where people can share their input on visitor stewardship and rank how visitor impacts affect their quality of life, especially in respect to the town’s environment, art legacy, and historical roots.
The town hall will have two components: how to best address visitor impacts in the neighborhoods near the beaches that are most affected — including more trash pick up and writing traffic tickets for illegal parking — and the other part will address how to best get the message out about respecting the town’s enviromenent, culture and heritage.
Tourism has always been an economic driver for Laguna Beach, and residents, who have always been a bit cranky about the inconveniences posed by visitors, benefit from tourist-related tax money to help pay for parks, roads and services.
But last summer, city officials said there seemed a shift. The number of tourists was greater, and their behavior, instead of just drawing frowns, prompted more calls to the cops. The Police Department relied heavily on its park rangers to address situations such as unruly behavior in neighborhoods, parking and traffic violations and alcohol use on the beach.
At the end of summer, councilmembers Sue Kempf and Mark Orgill established the Laguna Beach Stewardship and Visitor Impact Ad Hoc Committee, concluding the need for a strategic approach.
One new plan included working with Visit Laguna, the marketing arm of the city’s tourism district, to balance promoting the community with preservation efforts.
Recently, councilmembers extended the tourism district for another 10 years; It was first established in 2001 to support lodging businesses by funding tourism promotion, cultural programming, and economic development. It has been renewed several times since, the last being in 2020.
In the new plan, the previous 2% assessment on a night lodging stay could also go up to 2.5% at the council’s and Visit Laguna’s discretion.
Presently, half of the assessed funds from the tourism district go to Visit Laguna, while the other half helps promote the arts, including through the city’s Arts Commission, the Laguna Art Museum, the College of Art & Design in Laguna Canyon and the Laguna Playhouse.
In the new plan, the distribution would change, with 25% going to a new category called “destination stewardship,” which would be used for artist housing, beautification projects, enhanced tourism and environmental sustainability.
And, Visit Laguna would partner with the city to align on a message that portrays the community’s image.
“We want people to think of Laguna not just as a place to come and hang out, but to respect the beaches. Our arts community is very important to us and our heritage,” Kempf said. “We want people who come here to act like a local, treat it as your own home.”
“The messaging that they do will be around those kinds of things,” she said, using examples of other cities that are respected for their identities, such as Sedona. “That’s kind of a sacred place. It’s a beautiful area; you don’t trash it. You treat it with respect and you kinda fit yourself in with the community there while you’re there. That’s how we want people to think about Laguna Beach.”
Kempf said she expects the visitor impact will be just as great, if not greater, than last summer.
Related links
Laguna Beach to spend $1 million to counter visitor impacts on beaches and residents With an influx of beach visitors, Laguna Beach runs ads to stop bad behavior Tourism and impacts to beaches, neighborhoods takes center stage among Laguna Beach City Council candidates For decades Laguna Beach has wanted control of all its beaches, now it might Secret Laguna Beach tide pools at Thousand Steps a magnet for bad behavior, residents fear“I think with the economy, we’ll just get a lot of day visitors,” she said. “People won’t want to spend the money to travel and will just do a lot of local stuff.”
Orgill, who has been on the Visit Laguna board for more than 20 years, said implementing actions through Visit Laguna such as supporting the arts, helping the ocean docents with their efforts at the tidepools, and helping Laguna Greenbelt keep hiking trails free of litter, are ways to promote Laguna Beach’s identity to visitors.
“I think it’s the perfect time to reset the focus on what you want to be,” he said, adding that he is looking forward to collaborating with the community at the town hall. “It will be interesting to start to measure what we’re doing well and not doing well.”
The town hall will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Thursday at City Hall. Information: lagunabeachcity.net.
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