2026 World Cup, 2028 Olympics: Los Angeles strengthens its MICE bid

Los Angeles remains a must-see destination for MICE in the United States. The "wow" effect is immediate thanks to its Californian spirit, its original museums and venues for hosting events, its restaurants with original and varied cuisine, its 300 days of sunshine per year, not to mention its coast with renowned seaside resorts, from Venice Beach to Santa Monica. The choice of hotels, restaurants, bars, and event venues, whether themed or not, allows for a variety of proposals during the stay while revealing different facets of the city. There are no fewer than thirty, with each district of the "City of Angels" possessing its own atmosphere, its identity, and revealing a particular universe due to its history, architecture, population, and culture.

LA will be the centre of attention in the coming weeks and years, as it hosts two major sporting events: the Football World Cup and the Olympic Games. The former, co-organised by the United States with Canada and Mexico, will take place from 11 June to 19 July 2026. The Californian metropolis will host eight matches, including the US national team's opening game and a quarter-final at the SoFi Stadium. This same 70,000-seater stadium, inaugurated in 2020, will also host the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on 14 July 2028, in tandem – for the first time – with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which will also host the closing ceremony on 30 July.

The city hopes to capitalise on these two sporting events to boost tourist numbers in a country that has seen a decline in international visitors since Donald Trump’s re-election (-6.31 million in 2025 and a loss of 12 billion in tourism revenue). The aim is to highlight the enthusiasm and warm welcome of its residents by showcasing the neighbourhoods and iconic landmarks of the Californian metropolis, far removed from the images of wildfires and protests against arrests carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2025.

Beyond these two major events, the City of Angels is an eminently sporting city. For an incentive trip or a business journey, and if the match schedule coincides, it is easy to attend a Clippers basketball game at the Intuit Dome, their new 18,000-seat stadium. Unless you opt for one of the 10 other professional teams such as the Dodgers, Lakers, Sparks, Clippers, Kings…

The Lucas Museum, a futuristic gem

However, while Los Angeles has sport running through its veins, its soul lies in culture, cinema first and foremost. Among the new attractions, 2026 will be marked by the highly anticipated opening on 22 September of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, located in the south of the city, at Exposition Park. The museum, with its futuristic lines, like a spaceship resting in the heart of a vast garden, will be dedicated to the cinematic work of George Lucas, focusing on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones sagas, and more broadly on the art of storytelling through the exhibition of storyboards, paintings, photographs, models, costumes… Not forgetting, of course, film and video screenings.

With a rich collection of 40,000 objects, the galleries will explore different cinematic themes such as family, love, work, play, science fiction… The Lucas Museum is expected to attract crowds from its opening, as well as events, thanks to 9,300 m2 of gallery space, two amphitheatres, dedicated spaces, a café, and a restaurant. Applications are already open on the museum's website, Lucasmuseum.org.

In addition to the future Lucas Museum, The Park can boast being home to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the California African American Museum, the California Science Center (housing the Space Shuttle Endeavour), the very fragrant Rose Garden, and the University of Southern California (USC). This area, created in the 1870s and intended for major exhibitions, particularly agricultural ones, has become a leading cultural and sporting centre over the decades, having already been used for the 1932 Olympic Games as well as those in 1984. It awaits those of 2028, bolstered by the presence of the famous LA Memorial Coliseum, BMO Stadium, and the Galen Center, which will host several Olympic and Paralympic disciplines.

Dataland, the first museum dedicated to AI

At the forefront of the world of tomorrow, Los Angeles will in the spring welcome the first museum dedicated to AI, Dataland, located within The Grand LA, the cultural complex designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry in the heart of Downtown LA. Driven by new technologies, Dataland aims to offer an immersive experience blending art and science, imagination and machine creativity through evolving artistic installations, as artificial intelligence gradually invades our daily lives and impacts certain professions.

Unmissable Downtown LA

Downtown Los Angeles can be explored on foot to admire its historic facades, many of which are former cinemas dating back to the golden age of the silver screen. While some have been redeveloped, such as the one transformed into an Apple store, others are still abandoned, like the Cecil Hotel, a former hotel reputedly haunted!

It was here, in its heat-drenched streets, that LA was born at the end of the 19th century, to become today a vast, sprawling city of 19 million inhabitants. Staying in one of the downtown hotels allows you to discover its essential sights, Bunker Hill known for the deconstructed architecture of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, its (free) museums including The Broad and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the very lively Grand Central Market, and its old funicular railway seen in numerous films and series.

A place of true creative energy, the Arts District is brimming with street art murals, art galleries and artist collectives, designer boutiques, craft breweries, and trendy cafés and restaurants, often housed in former abandoned industrial buildings.

However, Downtown LA is also adopting a more business-oriented image. Located at the gateway to the city centre, the Los Angeles Convention Center has undertaken significant renovation and expansion works, costing $2.7 billion, scheduled to begin at the end of 2025. The connection of the West and South halls will notably allow the venue to gain 23 hectares of exhibition space, meeting rooms, dining areas, and more. The entire project is due to be completed in spring 2029, with construction scheduled to pause during the Olympic Games, as several of its spaces will be used for the sporting event.

The City of Cinema is still there

Among the possible excursions, a brief visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is a must in this city that has ennobled the seventh art and made it one of its pillars of development with its integrated film studios and theme parks. Benefiting from a modernised museography, the museum dedicated to cinema and its various techniques presents temporary exhibitions, but also a host of treasures, including Oscars awarded to the greatest artists, costumes, storyboards and set pieces, one of which is from Alfred Hitchcock's *North by Northwest*...

Just a few steps will take you to the famous LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, one wing of which was designed by architect Renzo Piano, the person behind the Centre Pompidou and the Law Courts in Paris. If you don't have time to visit it, don't miss the collection of 200 street lamps outside its entrance, a highly photogenic work entitled Urban Light by artist Chris Burden.

Theme parks for a thrill-seeking experience

To continue this cinematic theme, a visit to Universal Parks and Warner Bros. Studios plunges visitors into the heart of sets from iconic films and successful TV series. It's an opportunity to get a few scares on attractions inspired by major Hollywood franchises like Spiderman or Indiana Jones. The Warner Bros. Studios Tour Hollywood offers groups tours lasting from 1 hour (in French) to 4 hours, which, depending on the package, include a look back at the studio's history, a discovery of exhibits (on Harry Potter, DC Comics…), various sets (Friends…) and filming locations, the costume and prop department, or even lunch and a private screening.

Located on a hill overlooking the San Fernando Valley with stunning views of North LA, Universal Studios theme park combines a tour full of surprises of its filming sets, shows and thrilling attractions dedicated to its iconic franchises and characters, from Kung Fu Panda to The Simpsons, from King Kong to Fast & Furious, passing by The Mummy, Transformers and Jurassic Park. Two universes are also entirely dedicated to Harry Potter and Mario Bros.

Tailored activities for every operation

Regarding activities, several Destination Management Companies (DMCs) such as specialist agencies Urban Mice and Contact USA create comprehensive programmes for the destination. Service providers like Voyage en Français and Californie Off Road, on the other hand, offer guided activities led by a compatriot who has long been settled in LA. Their friendly mission is to introduce visitors to certain neighbourhoods and iconic sites in the City of Angels. The choice is varied, from a walking tour of LA's historic heart, where the façades of old Art Deco cinemas bear witness to the golden age of cinema, or Hollywood Boulevard, marked with the stars of celebrities, to a bike ride in Santa Monica and Venice Beach.

Hiking through Griffith Park to the famous Hollywood Sign is also a must-do. Exploring neighbourhoods can be done thematically, such as street art in Downtown LA and Little Tokyo, a food tour in Pasadena, or films in Santa Barbara or Silver Lake. For an even more local, Californian experience, Off Road can organise a cooking class, an introduction to surfing or skateboarding in Venice Beach, a yoga session on Santa Monica beach, a boat trip in the bay of Los Angeles…

" As well as being conducted in French, these tours have the advantage of being accompanied by a guide who knows each part of the City of Angels well, which means you won't miss the must-sees, but also allows you to discover places and good addresses that only locals know. And to be lulled throughout the visit by stories and anecdotes« s », underlines Elise Goujon, the founder of Off Road.

New developments for public transport

In anticipation of the Olympics, the city is undergoing an infrastructure revolution with a declared environmental focus. Several innovations were implemented for the football World Cup, including the Automated People Mover, which facilitates the arrival and departure of travellers from around the world at LAX. Los Angeles International AirportThis new free automatic train, which cost a mere 15 billion dollars, runs 24/7 on a dedicated 3.6 km track serving 6 stations and connects to the Green Line of the metro.

The airport also benefits from the new Delta Sky Way at LAX, an ultramodern 112,000 m2 building that serves no fewer than 27 gates and houses the Delta Sky Club, one of the largest lounges in the Delta network at 2800 m2. Regarding the metro, an extension of the first section of the D Line will be inaugurated this winter from Wilshire/Western to Wilshire/La Cienega, providing better access to Miracle Mile, one of the most populated and, above all, most congested districts in the city.

A wide selection of 4 and 5-star hotels

There's a huge array of hotel options in Los Angeles. All categories and all international chains are represented. It's indeed a "must have" for them to have their name there. Mama Shelter has thus located in Downtown LAwith 149 rooms, two restaurants including one on the unmissable trendy rooftop of this lifestyle brand now part of the Accor group. Equally original is the new Lucile Hotel from the boutique hotel chain Casetta, whose 25 rooms have been tucked into the walls of a former church dating from 1931, located in the very pleasant Silver Lake district.

If you prefer to immerse yourself in the buzz of Koreatown and try some of the best Korean BBQs, the new 52-room Kins Hotel with contemporary decor is the ideal address. Paying tribute to the late American companythe Pan Am Hotel will celebrate the 1950s in its decor while offering maximum comfort and services to travellers. Affiliated with the Hilton Tapestry Collection lifestyle brand, the establishment, due to open in 2026, will showcase the 1950s/1960s in its rooms and communal areas. Built within the Citadel Outlets shopping mall, it will also have the advantage of being located close to tourist attractions such as Beverly Hills and Santa Monica.

For practicality, many hotels are located opposite the Convention Centre in Downtown Los Angeles, such as the JW Marriott, Residence Inn, or AC Hotel and Moxy, two other 4-star brands from the Marriott group whose hundreds of rooms share the same tower. Hotel renovations are also permanent, as seen with the 319 rooms at the W Hollywood, which is intended to redefine the standards of relaxed luxury for the chain in North America. As an added bonus, the hotel's rooftop pool offers superb views of the Downtown LA skyline, the surrounding hills dominated by the famous Hollywood Sign, and also the astonishing Capitol Records building, which evokes a stack of 45 records.