Tourism

Las Vegas tourism chief’s salary hits $409,000

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s top executive is getting an 8 percent pay increase and a 40 percent bonus that will take his annual cash compensation to $409,704 a year.

11 June 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Partnership designed to bring more international tourists to Las Vegas

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.

11 June 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

VIDEO: Stuck on sweltering plane in Las Vegas, passengers break into song

Despite the sweltering heat, cooler heads prevailed when a plane full of people stranded at the Las Vegas airport Sunday showed their frustration not through angry words but with a song.

11 June 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Number of tourists hitting Las Vegas in April flat at 3.34 million

Tourists pass by the Flamingo with Caesars Palace in the background Thursday, April 28, 2011.

Visitor volume in Southern Nevada was flat in April, but a 6.9 percent increase in average daily room rate has some analysts encouraged.

10 June 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Don’t squeeze the tourists

As appealing as it may sound for Majestic Realty and the state to build an off-campus football stadium using money generated from new taxes on taxi customers or rental cars, it’s a horrible idea.

10 June 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

MGM Resorts joins forces with Hyatt

An exterior view of the Bellagio Monday, March 11, 2013.

MGM Resorts International has been busy forming business partnerships with travel agencies.

5 June 2013
By Ed Komenda

Auctioneer of collector cars wheels to Reno, says it won't backfire on Las Vegas event

Classic cars are displayed in the parking lot of the Mandalay Bay after a classic car parade on the Las Vegas Strip Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. The annual parade serves as a kick-off to the Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas auto auction at the Mandalay Bay.

Representatives of Barrett-Jackson, a large collector car auctioning operation based in Scottsdale, Ariz., say the company’s expansion to Northern Nevada’s Hot August Nights classic car event won’t hurt attendance at its Las Vegas show.

5 June 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

A new reason to smile on the Las Vegas Strip: You're on camera

A new reason to smile on the Las Vegas Strip: You're on camera

Security on the Strip just got more high-tech. Thirty-seven surveillance cameras now sit atop traffic poles along a 4-mile stretch of the famed Las Vegas Boulevard, part of an effort to boost safety in the tourist-heavy corridor.

4 June 2013
By Jackie Valley

Earn free flights by staying in Las Vegas hotels, and get casino perks for flying

Las Vegas Strip casinos are viewed from the window of a Southwest Airlines passenger jet as it takes off from McCarran International Airport on Dec. 9, 2011.

MGM Resorts International and Southwest Airlines have formed a partnership linking their customer rewards programs. Members of Southwest’s Rapid Rewards and MGM’s M life programs now can accrue points toward free flights and VIP hotel stays from both companies.

3 June 2013
By Ed Komenda

Survey reveals how Las Vegas visitors spend their money

Tourists walk on the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, April 28, 2011.

A recent Internet survey found Las Vegas-bound visitors who booked their trips on Expedia.com spend an average of $1,600 over a three-day vacation. That’s a lot of dough, considering more than 39 million people visited Southern Nevada last year.

30 May 2013
By Ed Komenda

Will summer pitch be a home run?

Screenshot from the LVCVA "Summer Girls" commercial for the 2013 summer.

Today is the unofficial start of the summer vacation season and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is ready to reel in tourists with strategies that have twists on campaigns that have worked well in the past.

27 May 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Outrage ensues after feds cut funding for counterterrorism efforts in Las Vegas

Congressman Steven Horsford (D-NV), right, takes a tour of the Southern Nevada Counter-Terrorism Center, also known as the Fusion Center, with Jim Owens, left, deputy chief of Metro's homeland security division, and Capt. Al Salinas, center director, at Metro Police Headquarters Thursday, May 2, 2013. Officials at the center are concerned that budget cuts that might negatively affect its operations.

With millions of visitors annually cramming into a world-famous stretch of hotels and casinos, does Las Vegas present an appealing target for terrorists? Not enough to persuade the federal government to continue funding counterterrorism efforts here. The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday it was pulling the Las Vegas area’s funding for counterterrorism activities for FY2013.

23 May 2013
By Tovin Lapan,
John Taylor

Recent events raise the question: Is Las Vegas prepared for a major medical emergency?

Medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013.

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, approximately 300 injured people were treated at 26 Boston-area hospitals. That same week, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded, sending more than 200 inured people to area hospitals. Monday, after a devastatingly large and powerful tornado ripped through Oklahoma, 200 people, including 50 children, were treated for injuries. So, how is Southern Nevada prepared for a large-scale medical emergency? After all, Clark County has one of the largest tourist corridors in the world in the Las Vegas Strip.

23 May 2013
By Tovin Lapan

Rio plans zip line ride between two towers

A rendering shows the VooDoo Skyline thrill ride, which is expected to be operational this summer.

Imagine this: you’re soaring 400 feet above the Las Vegas Strip, strung on a zip line between the Rio’s two towers.

22 May 2013
By Ed Komenda

Confusing tourism and immigration

The battle over immigration reform could get heated, and local tourism leaders hope the federal government’s efforts to reduce visa wait times aren’t lost in the shuffle.

13 May 2013
By Richard N. Velotta
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