International buyers to attend Governor’s Global Tourism Summit Nov. 16-17 in Las Vegas
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Creating solid business development opportunities within the lucrative international travel market is the focus of the Governor’s Global Tourism Summit, Nov. 16-17 at Hilton Lake Las Vegas. The conference, presented by the Nevada Division of Tourism (Travel Nevada), includes the Nevada Marketplace, where Nevada tourism professionals meet one-on-one with more than 40 international travel agents, wholesale partners and airline representatives.
The Marketplace offers a singular opportunity for Nevada’s urban and rural destinations, lodging properties, attractions and others to meet with the world’s leading travel buyers. Among those participating in this year’s Marketplace: Funway Holiday from the United Kingdom, Excite Holidays from Australia, and CVC and Decolar from Brazil.
The Global Tourism Summit, announced in August by Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, is the evolution of the long-running Governor’s Conference on Tourism. This shift recognizes the significance of international tourism, an industry that supports about 1.1 million United States jobs and wages of $29.2 billion, according to the U.S. Travel Association, a national industry organization. Each overseas traveler spends about $4,300 when he or she visits the United States, and will stay an average 17 nights, according to the USTA.
“Nevada competes with other states and other countries for a share of the international travel market, and this conference provides opportunities to better understand and access that market,” Hutchison said. “The Global Tourism Summit, with its focus on international marketing, also corresponds to Gov. Sandoval’s continued emphasis on global trade.”
Travel Nevada long has promoted the state in the international arena, with representation in nine overseas markets, most recently India. Nevada’s economy, although diversifying, remains bolstered by its travel industry, which accounted for 13.4 percent of the state’s gross domestic product in 2014. While the travel industry remains crucial to Nevada’s economy, visitors to the state increasingly are from other countries. In Las Vegas, which opened an international terminal at McCarran International Airport in 2012, 19 percent of visitors were from foreign countries in 2014, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
“Never has there been a more exciting time to promote Nevada to international visitors,” Claudia Vecchio, Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs director, said. “Our goal is to ensure statewide partners can generate business through access to key buyers and understand how to promote their product to both trade and consumer audiences.”
Keynote presenters Chris Thompson, president/CEO of Brand USA; Kelly Craighead, director, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries; and David Houle, global futurist and author of “Entering the Shift Age,” will speak about key trends in international travel and ways to create brands that appeal to audiences from diverse international markets. The conference also will include new research from the U.S. Travel Association, market briefs from Travel Nevada’s in-market representative firms and protocol insights.
Conference registration is available at GovernorsConference.org; register by Sept. 25 to take advantage of the early bird registration rate. The cost for attending the conference is $200 through Sept. 25, $250 after. On-site registration is $300.
To get the latest conference news, visit Facebook.com/NevadaTourism. For more about Nevada tourism, visit Travel Nevada.com.
The Nevada Division of Tourism (Travel Nevada) is part of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. It promotes and markets Nevada as a tourism destination for domestic and international leisure and business travelers through its marketing and advertising programs and by coordinating partnerships between public and private entities. Travel Nevada also administers grant programs for local entities to market travel and tourism offerings and publishes Nevada Magazine.
