The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has signed a trade promotion partner agreement with a division of the Commerce Department to share resources to attract more international tourists.
Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Kenneth Hyatt, LVCVA President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter and LVCVA board Chairman Tom Collins signed the agreement today at the organization’s board meeting.
The partnership will join the expertise of the LVCVA and the International Trade Administration to develop more activities to increase the U.S. market share of worldwide travel.
President Barack Obama’s national travel and tourism strategy aims to attract 100 million international travelers to the United States by the end of 2021.
One of the LVCVA’s goals is to increase the percentage of Las Vegas visitors to 30 percent international by 2020. Currently, about 17 percent of the city’s visitors are from outside the country.
The LVCVA, which operates the only convention center designated as a World Trade Center, will build awareness of the importance of tourism to the economy with a series of events at trade shows.
International travelers, who stay longer and spend more freely than their domestic counterparts, are expected to spend more than $250 billion in the United States by 2021. Las Vegas, which had a record 39.7 million visitors last year, sees $56.6 billion in annual spending.