The old adage goes like this: "If you can't beat them, join them."
And that's what folks across the country seem to be doing lately -- joining us in Los Angeles to avoid the cold weather in their hometowns.
Instead of watching and reading about the toasty weather, hoards of chilled folks are coming to LA on planes, trains and automobiles -- all in what appears to be an effort to warm up and beat record cold temperatures.
NBC4 working with the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board pulled the last three weeks of tourism research in the greater LA area and found a January year over year spike of 7.1 percent in hotel occupancy rates. A spokesperson for the board said they couldn't prove the high tourism rates the last three weeks were due to warm weather -- "even if we think it's partially true."
Warm weather is consistently cited as one of the top three reasons tourists visit the Southland, the spokesperson said.
The truth, according to the local National Weather Service, is we've had some "historic" high temperatures so far this year. The Burbank Bob Hope Airport marked 10 straight days of a high of 80 degrees or more, a new January record.
Angelenos can likely look for the boom in tourism to continue as forecasts call for more of the same.
