Los Angeles Rising

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Registration: 11:30am

Lunch: 12:00pm

Education Program: 12:45pm

Adjorn: 1:30pm

The Garland Hotel: 4222 Vineland Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91602

Last month’s wildfires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades left a lasting mark on the Los Angeles area. Yet, fortunately, little of the region—and none of the tourism infrastructure—was damaged. However, the extensive worldwide media coverage has created the impression that the region is devastated.

What marketing efforts have been planned and what programs are being implemented now and in the future? What role does advocacy play at the statewide level to ensure that the LA region remains an attractive and viable visitor destination?

The TTMA luncheon meeting will feature Kristen Bonilla, Director of Public Relations at Visit CA, and Barb Newton, CEO of CalTravel, who will discuss the response to the fires on statewide, national, and international levels, along with key legislative issues and advocacy efforts.

Barbara Newton President and CEO
California Travel Association

California Travel Association (CalTravel) is the influential, unified voice of the travel and tourism industry in California. As President and CEO, Barb Newton is responsible for leading the organization to protect and advance travel and tourism’s interests through advocacy, collaboration, and education.
Prior to joining CalTravel in 2014, she was President of Sunset Publishing, a diversified publishing company based on the leading media brand in the West. Under her leadership, Sunset launched and grew award-winning California events, an international wine competition, new digital travel tools and partnerships with many California travel and tourism organizations and businesses.
She came to Sunset from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was President of Reiman Media Group, a Midwestern lifestyle media company that included an international tours company and travel magazine. She began her career at Rodale, Inc., where she rose to SVP Managing Director of Women’s Heath Worldwide. Newton has also consulted on strategic planning and business development for clients such as National Geographic, AAA, General Mills, Time Inc., Rodale Inc. and Reader’s Digest.
Newton serves on the boards of U.S. Travel, Education Week, CSU Hospitality and Tourism Alliance, and the Cal Poly RPTA Advisory Board, and has a BA and MA from Lehigh University. She and her husband Jeff have two children and live in Woodside, California with their beach-loving dogs.

Kristen Bonilla
Director of Public Relations, Visit California

Kristen Bonilla is the Director of Public Relations at Visit California, managing the organizations domestic public relations agency and all media and influencer relations programming. She also works closely with Visit California's marketing, content and social teams on all Visit California campaigns and aids in extending the organizations global media messaging across 13 international markets.
Originally from Michigan, Kristen moved west in 2007 and immediately fell in love with the Golden State. She started her career at Visit West Hollywood and has spent more than 15 years in the California tourism industry. She graduated with a degree in integrative public relations from Central Michigan
University.

Host or Publisher TTMA, Travel and Tourism Marketing Association