Key stakeholders gather to map out Nevada tourism efforts

Tourism is a complex machine and its numerous cogs — federal policymakers, state government leaders, convention and visitors bureaus, industry strategists and the airport — came together Wednesday to map out how they can team to lead Nevada out of its economic doldrums.

Several shareholders hold key individual pieces and shared their plans in presentations to about 300 people attending the 1 1/2-day Governor’s Conference on Tourism that ended Wednesday at the Rio.

Among the plans:

• A definitive effort to attract the 2022 Winter Olympic Games to Northern Nevada. The state will team with California in 2013 to convince the U.S. Olympic Committee that the Lake Tahoe area would be the best place to host the games.

• The June 28 opening of a new 14-gate terminal at McCarran International Airport that will provide a new home for international flight arrivals and long-haul domestic flights.

• A new call to set aside regional rivalries and political differences to unite behind a strategy to use tourism to help diversify the state’s economy.

• An effort to refurbish the Las Vegas Convention Center to bolster the city’s grip on its place as the top convention and meetings destination in the country. Next year, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will resurrect a makeover plan that was shelved when the recession hit.

• A single brand strategy to attract tourists to a diverse state that includes wide-open rural landscapes as well as entertainment and casinos, due for delivery in late May.

• Brand USA, the nation’s first international marketing program, which will deliver its first ads to attract foreign tourists to the United States next year.

“The sessions have been super,” said Claudia Vecchio, new director of the state’s Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. “It’s great that we can have this much expertise together at one place.”

Experts from near and far offered presentations on their roles to energize the industry.

Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki told attendees to put Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, at 7 p.m., on their calendars – the lighting of the Olympic torch for the start of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Northern Nevada.

“I know you don’t have a conflict for that date yet,” he said, explaining that the Reno Tahoe Winter Games Coalition is gearing to prepare a bid to host the event.

Krolicki explained that the U.S. Olympic Committee must first determine whether the United States wants to put in a bid to host the games after the disappointment of its Chicago bid not winning the 2016 summer games in 2009.

The U.S. committee will decide next year if it wants to bid and would open the process and choose an American host city in mid-2013. Northern Nevada’s biggest competition is expected to come from Denver and Salt Lake City.

Once an American city is identified, it would be scrutinized by the International Olympic Committee, which would make its selection in July 2015 giving the winning bidder seven years to prepare for the games.

Krolicki said he wanted to announce the coalition’s efforts so that fund-raising efforts could begin.

While plans are in early stages, insiders have said opening and closing ceremonies and the games’ downhill events could occur in Nevada. What’s most appealing to Nevada tourism leaders is that most hotel rooms for participants and spectators would be in Reno, Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, Randall Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, told conference attendees that McCarran International Airport’s new Terminal 3 would start a phased opening June 28.

All international carriers would begin operations there first and by the end of July, domestic carriers Alaska, Frontier, JetBlue, Sun Country and Virgin America would move in. By the end of August, United Airlines – which officially began operating under a single certificate with Continental Airlines on Wednesday – and Hawaiian Airlines would move in.

McCarran plans a full-scale education program in May to help local travelers to find their way to their flights.

Walker said the city’s recent successes in attracting international carriers to serve Las Vegas have led to a new problem.

Airlines released their July 2012 schedules and McCarran officials determined that on Thursdays between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., the six international gates would be full and if another carrier sought a gate, the airport would have no place to park the plane.

Walker said the problem is being solved by modifying construction at the terminal to shift a seventh gate from the domestic section to the international area. International gates are set up differently than domestic gates to channel incoming passengers to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In a presentation on building and protecting brands, Billy Vassiliadis, principal at R&R Partners, the LVCVA’s advertising consultant, said it was time to end “25 years of nitpicky nonsense” and for the tourism and business communities to pull together to grow the economy. He applauded Gov. Brian Sandoval’s call Tuesday for tourism and economic development efforts to work together, but also wondered why it took so long.

Vassiliadis noted that tourism is an industry that has produced a documented return on investment for the state, but it’s one of the first expenses leaders look to cut from the budget. He called on legislative leaders to put regional and political differences aside for a unified effort and said they’ll have to raise the budget to solve some of the state’s problems.

He also offered two ideas the business community could implement to help tourism efforts, suggesting that satellite outdoor supply stores be opened in rural Nevada to bring merchandise closer to adventure-seeking tourists. He also suggested that influential Nevada businessmen talk with CEOs to sell the state as a good place to do business.

“Why couldn’t we put Jim Murren or Steve Wynn in a room with them and say, ‘Hey, not only do we love having your business, but this is a great place to live and do work,’” he said.

Attendees also got details on other previously announced proposals.

LVCVA CEO Rossi Ralenkotter told the crowd about plans to refurbish the Las Vegas Convention Center, John Rubino of Seattle-based GreenRubino gave an update on efforts to develop a brand identify for the state and Jim Evans, president and CEO of Brand USA, explained the United States’ new marketing efforts to attract more foreign tourists to the country, a strategy that would help Las Vegas.