Latest LV tourist publication targets Hispanic visitors

Monday, April 29, 2002 | 11:29 a.m.

The newest entry in Las Vegas' crowded tourism publication market will have a new face or, more precisely, "Nuestro nuevo rostro."

The tagline for Viva magazine, a Spanish and English entertainment publication that debuts in June, translates to "Our new face," and Publisher Marc Garcia will use some unconventional ideas to set it apart from other entertainment guides circulated in Las Vegas.

"I think it will be a truer face," Garcia said.

Garcia, a professional photographer who owns Marc Anthony Productions, and his studio partner, Raul Sepulveda, are most comfortable with portrait photography and enlisted professional Hispanic models Alicia Karns, Jorge Kihuen and Manuel Encinas -- rather than entertainment icons -- to be on the inaugural cover of the 48-page monthly publication.

"I'm on the technical side and Raul is our cultural liaison and is on the creative side," Garcia said of Sepulveda.

Garcia chose the name Viva -- Spanish for "live" -- because it fit with Las Vegas, as in "Viva Las Vegas," the well-known Elvis Presley hit.

Garcia, an 18-year Las Vegas resident, studied psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and had a government position teaching disabled people job skills. Five years ago he turned photography, a self-taught hobby, into the studio business.

Last year, he began formulating plans to launch Viva and put together a small staff. He used personal savings and a private loan to start the magazine.

All the articles in Viva are presented in Spanish and some of the headlines and other graphic elements are in Spanish and English.

The lead feature in the first edition is an interview with Remy Palacios, a performer in the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino's "Storm" production show. Other articles focus on entertainment, lifestyles and fashion in the Hispanic community.

Future editions will include profiles of other Hispanic entertainers as well as previews of entertainment events of interest to a Spanish-speaking audience. Garcia plans feature articles on boxers and upcoming Las Vegas fights

Garcia said 20,000 copies of Viva are being produced at Creel Printing Co., Las Vegas, and a quarter of those will be distributed on flights to Las Vegas on AeroMexico, which has daily nonstop flights from Hermosillo and two flights a week from Monterey.

Magazines also will be distributed at tourism outlets in Arizona and Southern California, as well as some in local resorts. The magazine is free to readers and is supported entirely by advertising revenue.

Viva joins a crowded Las Vegas entertainment magazine/visitor guide field that includes a few major players like Showbiz and What's On and more than a dozen smaller publications.

Viva will be the only Spanish-language entertainment magazine, which competitors concur should be a good niche.

"The upscale Mexican tourist is a very lucrative market," said Jim McGlasson, publisher of Showbiz, which distributes 130,000 copies a week.

McGlasson said the company published a Spanish-language version of Showbiz in the spring of 2000, but it was discontinued after international tourism fell dramatically after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"The two biggest visitation periods from Mexico are in May and September (around traditional Mexican holidays) so we've decided to see what the traffic is like in May and revisit whether we should come back with the Spanish version in September," McGlasson said.

Showbiz began publishing a Japanese-language version of the magazine last year.

The Greenspun family owns both the Las Vegas Sun and Showbiz.

Stacey Hertz, editor in chief of What's On, which distributes 185,000 copies every two weeks, said her publication has considered a Spanish-language version.

"I think's it's a good idea," Hertz said. "I don't know all the data for Mexican tourism, it has been changing so rapidly. We thought about (publishing in Spanish) a couple of years ago, but we never tried it."

Mexico is currently the No. 4 source of international tourists to Las Vegas behind Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom. About 231,000 Mexican tourists visited Las Vegas in 2000. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says that count includes Mexican tourists who flew directly to Las Vegas and doesn't include those who came by way of California, Arizona, Texas or other states.

LVCVA officials say estimating the number of visitors from Mexico is difficult because some arrive indirectly and Las Vegas is close enough for drive-in traffic, which is even harder to quantify.

Mexican tourism appears to be on the verge of growing next month following the announcement by America West Airlines that nonstop air service will be inaugurated between Mexico City and McCarran International Airport four times a week.

Four airlines already offer nonstop service from Mexican destinations. In addition to the nine flights a week by AeroMexico, there's a daily flight to and from Monterey by Aviacsa, four flights a week on Allegro to and from Tijuana and two flights a week to and from Guadalajara on Mexicana. Between the four, more than 200,000 passengers arrived in Las Vegas from Mexico in 2001, according to McCarran statistics.

Garcia hopes to get the attention of upscale Mexican travelers making their way to Las Vegas.

"The magazine is going to be very visual," Garcia said. "Every page you turn will have something that catches the eye."