Commerce leader lauds Vegas for aggressive ads

By Liz Benston (contact)

Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | 10:53 a.m.

A year after the city's "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas" ad campaign hit the national airwaves, the spots have become part of pop culture as numerous TV shows, news programs and comedy skits repeated the phrase and created a steady stream of buzz for Las Vegas.

The federal government has taken notice.

When the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration rolls out a $6 billion marketing campaign this fall aimed at attracting tourists from the United Kingdom to the United States, it expects to take a page from the Las Vegas handbook on promotion.

"We applaud your efforts ... to demonstrate that an investment of this nature is worth the investment of taxpayer dollars," said Douglas Baker, deputy assistant secretary for service industries, tourism and finance for the Department of Commerce. Baker, appointed by the Bush Administration a month after the Sept. 11 attacks to help promote international tourism, spoke at a luncheon Tuesday sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce to mark National Tourism Week.

The campaign will include television ads -- an investment that might have otherwise been too expensive for individual markets -- and will "celebrate the spirit and culture of America," Baker said.

"Las Vegas really gets it," Baker said of the city's aggressive approach toward marketing.

Tourism and travel to the United States contribute an average of 3.5 percent to the country's gross domestic product and has surpassed agriculture and motor vehicles as a top "export," he said. At 27 percent of all service exports, travel also represents the largest segment in the service sector, he said.

Las Vegas' recovery from the tourism slump after Sept. 11 has helped boost nationwide statistics, he said.

Nevada was one of only three states, including Texas and Indiana, that showed an increase in international visitors in 2003 compared to 2002, U.S Commerce Department data released this month show. Travelers from Canada and Mexico weren't included in the study.

In Nevada overseas visitation was up 7 percent to 1.4 million in 2003, making it the fifth most visited destination nationwide but gaining on top-ranked Florida, New York, California and Hawaii.

International tourism is a keystone of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's five-year plan to grow visitation. The agency is particularly interested in relatively untapped markets such as China, which has a rising middle class.

"In China they know two locations in Nevada -- Las Vegas and the Ponderosa Ranch," said Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt at the luncheon, referring to the worldwide rebroadcasts of the 1960s-era TV show "Bonanza." "They want to visit the U.S. and they definitely want to visit Nevada."

Hunt, who chairs the Nevada Commission on Tourism, visited China last year as part of a trade delegation.

International travel also is a focus of the Commerce Department, which is eyeing top markets such as Europe and Asia. Outbound travel to the U.S. from both areas has been flat or declining so far this year compared to a year ago, Baker said.

According to the Commerce Department, 46 percent of the 18 million overseas visitors to the United States last year were from Western Europe. Nearly half of those travelers, or 3.9 million visitors, were from the United Kingdom.

According to figures presented to Congress Friday, overseas visitors not counting those from Canada and Mexico were up 26 percent in March compared to a year earlier.

Baker sees that has a hopeful sign for a nation that may not be mirroring Las Vegas' relatively speedy comeback.

"Clearly we're in the throes of a heated recovery," he said.

After three tough years for tourism, the federal government this year is forecasting a 22 percent increase in international visitors from 2003 through 2007 for a total of 49 million visitors by 2007, he said.

While international travel declined 4 percent in 2003, European and Asian visitors are expected to return in numbers this year and in future years, he said. The United Kingdom will maintain its rank as the top overseas market, increasing visitation by 30 percent through 2007, forecasts show.

The good news is that money received from such trips will total an estimated $105 billion by 2007. The bad news is that by 2007 the country's trade surplus will decline to around $789 million from its peak of $26 billion in 1996, Baker said.

Outreach campaigns such as the upcoming ads in Britain as well as making air travel safer and more efficient will help the country's tourism efforts abroad, he said.

"You have to know your market," he said. "The country can clearly take a page from Las Vegas."