Richard N. Velotta
VEGAS INC coverage
When I went to the first few sessions of this month’s Global Travel and Tourism Summit at Aria, I knew it was going to be different from any other industry conference I’d attended.
From the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority-sponsored panel on the problems facing the visa application process to the closing ceremony at which LVCVA President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter passed the baton of host responsibilities for 2012 to a delegation from Japan, the three-day event was a big stage for our city to show what it could do.
In addition to hearing from heavy hitters such as Cabinet members Ray LaHood and Janet Napolitano, Turner Enterprises honcho Ted Turner and the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón, I was keeping a close eye on how Las Vegans performed on the big stage and how this international gathering of 1,000 viewed our city.
The LVCVA panel on visas set the tone. Ralenkotter brought in leaders of some of the city’s top conventions, ConExpo-Con/Agg, the Specialty Equipment Market Association and the National Association of Broadcasters, and US Travel Association CEO Roger Dow to a conversation about the visa issue with CBS News Travel Editor Peter Greenberg.
Considering that the LVCVA is counting on 30 percent of Las Vegas’ visitors to be from outside the US by 2021, the conversation about how our embassies and consulates in Brazil, Russia, India and China—the “BRIC” countries—are more hindrance than help in increasing our visitor numbers was particularly relevant.
It was the first panel I’d ever attended in which the panelists sat at a round-table and addressed one another while the audience, including Rep. Joe Heck, R-NV, were lined along the sides of the room.
The main conference hall also was staged in the round with one side of the stadium-style seating area adorned by a pair of 10-by-100-foot Las Vegas skyline murals. Delegates never forgot they were on the Las Vegas Strip.
Ralenkotter, who is the subject of this week’s VEGAS INC “The Interview” (see page 28), and Stephen Cloobeck, CEO of Las Vegas-based Diamond Resorts International and the chairman of the new Corporation for Travel Promotion, were among the panelists who sat shoulder to shoulder with some of the world’s top industry leaders. They held their own on their respective panels and were good hosts by not dominating their conversations.
There was a little tension in the room when Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s senior adviser, spoke on the importance of tourism to the nation’s economic engine. Eric Bello, an executive at the Sands Expo Center and a member of the Nevada Tourism Commission, expressed an opinion that has been on the minds of Southern Nevadans for two½ years. Bello said he doubted the sincerity of the Obama administration’s views on tourism because the president not once, but twice used Las Vegas as an example of how not to spend money. Jarrett basically told Bello to get over it.
Another Las Vegan to reach the big stage during the event was Mayor Oscar Goodman, who appeared with his signature showgirls on each arm and martini glass in hand. Say what you will about the mayor being a caricature of what’s wrong with Las Vegas, but his shtick played well with the foreign crowd. They loved him.
Aria executive Bill McBeath and Caesars Entertainment’s Tom Jenkin were on hand to greet guests to their respective properties. They and marketing leaders from every major Las Vegas property used the opportunity of having these movers and shakers in town to build relationships for future business deals. They were everywhere at networking breaks.
The only uncooperative moment came at the event’s major social gala. A poolside gathering at Paris-Las Vegas had to be moved indoors because of the threat of inclement weather. For most attendees, it didn’t matter. I overheard some people say they were glad it was inside because they didn’t bring any cold-weather clothes for a May event in Las Vegas.
Fortunately, the city’s reputation as a place to have fun kept everybody warm and it solidified the mantra that Las Vegas is not only the Entertainment Capital of the World, but also the best place in the world to conduct business by day while having fun at night.