LVCVA chief sounds a warning on threat posed by Indian casinos

Wednesday, May 31, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

A high-ranking tourism executive warned local business people who work with the tourism industry to be prepared for a downturn when Indian casinos open in California.

Manny Cortez, president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told the Latin Chamber of Commerce recently that the introduction of Indian gaming to California in the wake of voter approval of Proposition 1A last fall could be felt in some areas of Clark County.

Cortez, who addressed a chamber lunch, said his fears were a personal opinion and not based on any LVCVA analysis of the subject. He said it is too early to determine what economic impact California Indian casinos would have on Nevada properties.

He said he expects the problem to be more pronounced in Northern Nevada, where the threat of winter weather and road closures can become a factor in a Californian deciding whether to gamble close to home or drive to Reno.

Although the problem may be more acute for Northern Nevada, Cortez said some of the lower-end properties in Clark County could feel the same pinch. The potential for new California casinos comes at a time when Las Vegas is seeing a downturn in repeat visits by tourists.

An LVCVA survey of visitors determined that the average Las Vegas tourist came to the city 1.7 times per year in 1999 compared to 1.9 times per year a year earlier. At the same time, the percentage of visitors to Las Vegas from California fell from 32 percent in 1998 to 30 percent in 1999.

"I just think this is a good time to remember the roots of what has made us successful, and that is quality, personalized service," Cortez told about 150 business people.

The glimmer of hope that Nevada won't be hurt as badly as some naysayers believe, Cortez said, is that Las Vegas has proved resilient in hard times and has reinvented itself to meet competitive challenges.

"There were people who were writing Las Vegas' obituary when gaming came to Atlantic City, (N.J.)," Cortez said. "There were people who said we were done for when gaming proliferated in many other states and were in the riverboats. But Las Vegas entrepreneurs always managed to build a bigger and better mousetrap."

Cortez cited the greater emphasis on shopping, fine dining and entertainment to complement casinos as a means of drawing a new audience to the city.

But California Indian gaming could represent a bigger challenge, Cortez said, because the fledgling operations will be close to several large population centers and should be able to thrive. He said he hopes Las Vegas' array of shopping centers, restaurants and shows will continue to keep Californians coming, but he said he wanted to sound an alarm, particularly for chamber businesses.

Cortez said his agency is working to diversify the tourist base by participating in efforts to increase the number of flights from east of the Mississippi River and from international destinations. He cited next month's rollout of Virgin Atlantic Airways' twice-a-week nonstop flights between London and Las Vegas as a key improvement in developing international markets.

He told the predominantly Hispanic audience that daily nonstop service from Mexico would begin about a week after the London flights start when Aeromexico begins direct air service to Las Vegas from Hermosillo. Aeromexico plans to connect existing service from the interior of the country to that northern gateway.

He also said the LVCVA is in talks with Continental Airlines and with Varig Brazilian Airlines to develop direct air service to Las Vegas from Central and South America. The agency already has made overtures to yet another continent -- Australia -- by preparing to open an office in Sydney. Cortez said initially, the Australian representative would work the same way for the LVCVA as existing marketers in Asia and Europe, as contractors who work promoting tourism for other Nevada operations in addition to the LVCVA.

Cortez said the LVCVA also is bolstering its tourism relationship with California by supporting the widening of Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and San Bernardino.

Lobbyist Tom Skancke of Skancke Company Ltd. has been contracted by the LVCVA and two other agencies to monitor projects along the length of I-15, which Cortez called "the world's longest parking lot on holiday weekends." Cortez said Skancke will be paid $13,000 a month by the LVCVA, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Resort Association to review projects that will come before the Nevada and California state governments and municipalities and county governments along the route.

Cortez said I-15 would be improved with extra traffic lanes in some locations and truck lanes in steep sections of the route. Improvements are planned on southbound sections first, since a greater concentration of vehicles hits the highway in a smaller window of time when they leave Las Vegas than when they arrive for a long weekend.

About 5.4 million cars use I-15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas every year.