Nevada seeks to protect Grand Canyon air tours

Thursday, Feb. 25, 1999 | 10:33 a.m.

The state Commission on Tourism has approved a resolution promoting a Nevada industry's interest in Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park.

Commissioners hope the Nevada Legislature will adopt the resolution in a bid to protect Nevada's air tour industry.

The resolution "urges the Congress to effect an outcome for the Southern Nevada air tour industry that will protect, support and sustain the viability of this significant contributor to the Nevada tourism economy and the enjoyment of visitors and sightseers."

Commission Executive Director Tom Tait told the Japan-America Society of Nevada on Tuesday that the commission's action in support of Southern Nevada's Grand Canyon air tour industry is extremely important to Japanese tourists. International visitors on limited timetables rely on the industry's ability to take them over the world-renowned landmark for a few hours.

Seeing the Grand Canyon, which is about a one-hour flight from the Las Vegas area, is a high priority for many international tourists to Las Vegas, Tait said.

He said a 1996 UNLV tourism study found that more than 142,000 foreign visitors -- 32.4 percent of the total surveyed -- said they would forego visits to Southern Nevada if Grand Canyon air tours were unavailable here.

The resolution approved by the Commission addresses the thorny issue of noise.

The National Park Service said earlier this month it plans to establish a noise noticeability standard of 8 decibels below natural ambient air sound. Experts say that level would be exceeded any time tree branches brush against each other in a stiff wind.

Environmentalists and several government agencies backed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt support returning natural quiet to Grand Canyon National Park. But there's disagreement over how much tour airplanes impact natural quiet and whether visitors to the canyon even care about them.

Tait said the National Park Service logs only eight complaints about airplane noise per 1 million park visitors.

"That's a total of about 41 complaints in a year from all the people who visit the Grand Canyon," Tait said.

Of the approximately 800,000 tourists who fly over the Grand Canyon in a year, about 500,000 of them are on flights that originate from airports in the Las Vegas area. The largest Grand Canyon air tour operator, Scenic Airlines, is based at North Las Vegas Airport. Other flights leave daily from Henderson Executive Airport and McCarran International Airport.

"And, of the 500,000 people who fly from Las Vegas, 67 percent of them are foreign visitors," Tait said.

Tait also said planes are environmentally friendly because their occupants leave no footprints and planes also provide Grand Canyon access to the disabled.

Armed with a mandate from President Clinton and spurred by Babbitt and Arizona's congressional delegation, environmentalists have pressed for legislation to limit flights over the canyon.

Flight patterns over the canyon have been drawn and redrawn as each new rule is proposed, debated, enacted, then contested in court.

Early rules limited the altitude at which planes could fly in the wake of midair collisions below the canyon's rim.

The most recent flight rule proposals would limit the number of flights and what hours planes can fly. In addition, they set the noise standards the air tour industry has vigorously opposed.

Although the air tour industry has made strides to use quieter plane engines, industry leaders are convinced that the environmental movement's agenda is to remove planes from canyon airspace.

Other points Tait made in his appearance before the Japan-America Society:

Overall, the state's tourism outlook is positive. "We're going to have some soft times," Tait predicted, noting that visits to Las Vegas are expected to increase by 4 percent in 1999 and 4 to 5 percent in 2000. For the state, visitation is expected to be up only 3 percent in 1999 as Northern Nevada expects a lull this year.

Resort operators need to be challenged to be more accommodating to Japanese tourists. Tait said he doesn't believe the notion that Japanese generally don't like to gamble. He said if resorts made the effort to hire more Japanese dealers, they'd find the casino drop would increase. Resorts could be more accommodating by offering more games Japanese players like, like mah jong.

McCarran International Airport's baggage cart concession is counterproductive, he said. In most world cities, baggage carts are available at no charge. At McCarran, he said, they are a concession that cost about $1.50 per use. "How many international travelers have $1.50 in American currency available right as they get off the plane when they need carts to get their bags through (U.S.) Customs?" he asked. One woman in the crowd said some travelers are having second thoughts about using direct service to Las Vegas because the airport is unprepared to handle the volume of passengers getting off a jumbo jet.

Signs in foreign languages also are lacking, he said. The airport doesn't have enough foreign signage to make international visitors comfortable, he said. But a guest at the luncheon turned the tables on Tait: He asked if the Commission on Tourism offered a an Internet website in Japanese. Tait conceded he didn't, but promised to look into determining the cost of providing one.

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