Australians looking out the window of their plane landing at Los Angeles on the weekend may have received a surprise welcome message.
In response to the US President Donald Trump's controversial tightening of US borders and anti-immigration stance, more than 1000 people, including Australian celebrities Tammin Sursok and Jason Dundas, raised placards to spell out "welcome" under the flight paths of international planes touching down at Los Angeles International Airport.
Virgin Australia flight VA23 from Melbourne to Los Angeles was one of the flights singled out on Saturday.
"Diversity and inclusivity have always been cornerstones of Los Angeles culture, but there has never been a more crucial time to reinforce these points," Ernest Wooden Jr, president and chief executive for Discover Los Angeles, said.
Australia is LA's second largest overseas market, with more than 430,000 Aussies visiting in 2016.
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Tourism Economics has projected LA County could suffer a potential three-year loss of 800,000 international visitors from "anti-welcome" sentiment totalling a potential loss of $US736 million ($A991 million) in direct tourism spending.
Former Home and Away actress Sursok has lived in Los Angeles for more than a decade and stars on US TV series Pretty Little Liars.
"I'm getting behind this initiative because, now, more than ever, we must understand that we truly are a community - and this is such an important message to share with the world," she said.
The "welcome" messages were spelt in four languages: English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic.
