Friday, April 24, 1998 | 10:27 a.m.
A Mexican travel agency hopes to boost visits to Las Vegas back to levels in 1994 -- the days before a currency devaluation dented that nation's economy.
Monterey-based Centrotours has signed a one-year contract that will guarantee two charter flights a week between two Mexican cities and Las Vegas. The first flight arrived at McCarran International Airport Thursday afternoon.
Erne Vining, international sales director for Centrotours, said his company will sponsor two flights a week, Thursdays and Sundays, from Mexico City to Monterey to Las Vegas. The return flight arrives at those cities in reverse order.
Centrotours has contracted with Aero Mexico Airlines, which will fly a 133-passenger MD-87 twin-engine jet on the route. If the flights are full, the package could represent an increase of more than 13,000 visitors a year to Southern Nevada -- a deal worth an estimated $2 million.
Mexico currently is the No. 7 international source of travelers to Las Vegas, with 98,000 visitors reported in 1996, the most recent year of U.S. Department of Commerce and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority statistics.
That total represented a 63.3 percent increase in the number of visitors from Mexico in 1995, but not as high as the 104,000 visitors reported in 1994. Vining explained that Mexican economic leaders modified its financial policies that year, leading to a devaluation of the peso and a drain on the nation's economy. The United States is credited with assisting in the bailout.
Under terms of Centrotours' agreement, 50 seats on each flight are contracted to Visa, the national credit card company, which works with travel agencies in Mexico City that will sell the charter flights to their customers.
America West Airlines offers one-stop service between Las Vegas and Mexico City via Phoenix and another charter company, Aero Executivo, flies periodically between Monterey and Las Vegas. However, Vining said the Aero Mexico fares are less expensive than the current commercial rates. The charter fare runs around $200 round trip, while a commercial flight on America West would run about $489.
Thursday's flight was not the first Aero Mexico plane arrival in Las Vegas. McCarran officials said the airline's charters arrive from Mexico City and Monterey periodically, with the last group arriving in Las Vegas in September during Mexican independence holidays.
Vining said he is working with Las Vegas resorts to presell package deals to Mexican customers. He said he already has presold some package deals with the Luxor, but would not disclose how many or the amount of the contract.
If the Mexico City and Monterey packages are successful, Vining said his company could extend the contract beyond one year and could also attempt to establish flights between Las Vegas and Cancun and Guadalajara. He said he also hopes to reverse market the product to sell vacation packages to Southern Nevada residents wanting to visit Mexican beach resorts.
Vining said that by having twice-a-week flights, half the visitors that arrive in Las Vegas would have a midweek stay.
"They'll come in on Thursday and that group would probably go out on Sunday when we bring the next group in," Vining said. "Then that group would go out on Thursday when the next group comes in."
Vining said that not only do Mexican visitors enjoy gambling and Las Vegas entertainment, but they also shop more than the average visitor on vacation.
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