{"id":157107,"date":"2026-01-30T22:21:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T22:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/157107\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T22:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T22:21:13","slug":"visit-anaheim-says-poised-for-success-with-tourism-on-the-rise-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/157107\/","title":{"rendered":"Visit Anaheim says \u201cpoised for success\u201d with tourism on the rise \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anaheim\u2019s tourism bureau saw 2025 slowed by fires, inflation, tariffs and geopolitical issues, but Visit Anaheim President and CEO Mike Waterman optimistically said 2026 is poised to be the best performing in the organization\u2019s 65-year history.<\/p>\n

The last few months of 2025 \u201cshowed us our momentum was returning,\u201d Waterman said. \u201cAnd January is looking really, really strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visit Anaheim <\/a>is a not-for-profit that books the Anaheim Convention Center and markets the city. It\u2019s funded by the lion\u2019s share of a 2% assessment on a night\u2019s stay collected by hotels in the Anaheim Tourism Improvement District,<\/a> which spans 1,100 acres and includes the area immediately surrounding the Disneyland Resort and convention center.<\/p>\n

Already, the organization announced this month<\/a> it has secured 142 conventions, meetings and events for this year. It just welcomed by the massive NAMM convention, bringing music industry leaders to town.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat these events will give us is return for years to come,\u201d Waterman told a crowd of city leaders, hoteliers and tourism businesses that gathered at The Westin Anaheim Resort for Visit Anaheim\u2019s 65th annual meeting.<\/p>\n

Combined, this year\u2019s booked visits are anticipated to generate almost 600,000 overnight hotel stays and $1.74 billion in total economic impact for the region, he said.<\/p>\n

Anaheim was fifth in the nation last year for hotel occupancies, Waterman reported, with an average 72.3% occupancy rate year-round. A 3% increase is projected for this year.<\/p>\n

\"Caroline<\/p>\n

Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California, who will be retiring this year, gives the California tourism update during the Visit Anaheim\u2019s 65th Anniversary annual meeting at the Westin Anaheim Resort in Anaheim on Thursday, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Fred<\/p>\n

Fred Dixon, president and CEO of Brand USA gives a global tourism update at the Visit Anaheim\u2019s 65th Anniversary annual meeting at the Westin Anaheim Resort in Anaheim on Thursday, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Mike Waterman, president and CEO of Visit Anaheim speaks during the Visit Anaheim\u2019s 65th Anniversary annual meeting at the Westin Anaheim Resort in Anaheim on Thursday, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Sanford, CEO of Wincome Hospitality speaks during the Visit Anaheim\u2019s 65th Anniversary annual meeting at the Westin Anaheim Resort in Anaheim on Thursday, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of Visit California, who will be retiring this year, gives the California tourism update during the Visit Anaheim\u2019s 65th Anniversary annual meeting at the Westin Anaheim Resort in Anaheim on Thursday, January 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The convention bookings are also projected to bring $22.1 million in Transient Occupancy Tax, or hotel tax,<\/a> revenue to city coffers. The 15% tax on hotel stays generates nearly 40% of Anaheim\u2019s budget. This fiscal year, Anaheim leaders expects the tax to generate $246.6 million,\u00a0according to city estimates.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit Anaheim also plans to draw tourists by capitalizing on the investments and events that are on the city\u2019s doorstep, including the multi-billion dollar DisneylandForward expansion of themepark offerings, the under construction OCVibe entertainment and residential district at the Honda Center, Disneyland\u2019s 70th anniversary, this year\u2019s World Cup in Los Angeles and the LA28 Olympics, where indoor volleyball is planned for the Honda Center.<\/p>\n

Waterman said he hopes to position Anaheim as a hub for volleyball. And as one of its initiatives, Visit Anaheim is also tapping into the comedy scene, he said, with \u201cStand Up, Chow Down\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a comedy and culinary festival planned to debut April Fools\u2019 weekend and headlined by comedian Adam Ray.<\/p>\n

This year, Waterman said, \u201cwe are poised for success.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anaheim\u2019s tourism bureau saw 2025 slowed by fires, inflation, tariffs and geopolitical issues, but Visit Anaheim President and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,7980,165,164,7,4926,23,611,136,5277],"class_list":["post-157107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-convention-center","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-disneyland-resort","tag-local-news","tag-orange-county","tag-top-stories","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}