Former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman hasn’t been in the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority limelight for six months, since his term as mayor and board chairman of the LVCVA came to an end.
But at today’s board meeting, he made a grand entrance with a showgirl on each arm and a filled martini glass in hand to demonstrate the persona he’ll have as the head of the city’s Host Committee.
While it was clear he was having a good time, Goodman is serious about the role and what it means for tourism.
“It’s not Oscar Goodman that’s exciting them,” he said when explaining how groups react when he rolls out the welcome mat. “It’s the (Las Vegas) brand.”
In August, Goodman signed a two-year, $60,000-a-year contract with the LVCVA to be the city’s de facto ambassador, attending tourism conferences and welcoming groups to the city for large conventions or special events.
Goodman said he immediately recognized when attending the World Travel Market conference in London that there are tourism organizations that want to knock Las Vegas from the perch as one of the top tourism destinations in the world.
“There are cities and countries that are trying to wrest it away from us, and we can’t let that happen,” he said. “Las Vegas is No. 1 because its brand means having fun.”
LVCVA officials and Goodman earlier this year discussed developing a permanent Host Committee to welcome visitors and encourage travel to the city. It’s believed to be the only permanent tourism host committee operated by a visitors and convention bureau.
The Las Vegas Host Committee is made up of a dozen volunteers representing several tourism-invested organizations, ranging from the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, Fremont Street Experience and the Nevada Resort Association to Las Vegas Events, McCarran International Airport and the Regional Transportation Commission.
Goodman debuted in his official capacity as a tourism ambassador in September at the opening of La Cumbre, a meeting of travel exhibitors and buyers from the Americas and the Caribbean.
Goodman also addressed a meeting of the Nevada Taxicab Authority to emphasize the importance of the role taxi drivers have in being “the first and last responders” to visitors.
He told the board that his long-term goal would be to develop long-term relationships with conventions and special events to make sure that visitors know they are appreciated.
Goodman said appearances for the Las Vegas MAACO Bowl football game between Boise State and Arizona State and January’s World of Concrete convention are major events on his calendar. January is one of the city’s top convention months, with the massive International Consumer Electronics Show kicking off a run of heavily attended shows.
In other business at Tuesday’s meeting, the LVCVA board approved spending $118,000 for expenses for the city to exhibit at the International Tourism Bourse in Berlin in March and $300,000 to sponsor the 2012 Big League Weekend Series of baseball games at Cashman Field in March.
The ITB conference is one of the largest international tourism shows and at this year’s event March 7-11, Brand USA will unveil its first advertising messages that will be used to persuade foreign travelers to visit the United States.
Big League Weekend, a Las Vegas spring training special event, will occur March 17-18 and feature the Chicago Cubs against the Texas Rangers.
The LVCVA expects to generate revenue of $110,000 from ticket and concession sales, partnering with the Las Vegas 51s minor league baseball team. The value to Las Vegas is the television, radio and newspaper exposure generated from the two games, estimated last year to be worth $1.4 million.
The LVCVA board also approved a health-care agreement for employees for 2012 with Health Plan of Nevada for an estimated $1.3 million.
The new plan will have nominal increases to prescription copays, and insurance premiums will stay the same as this year. For the first time, same-sex domestic partners registered with the state will be eligible for the plan as dependents.