Experts: Nevada must encourage cultural interaction to succeed in global economy

Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005 | 9:21 a.m.

Two state leaders say Nevada's success in the global economy may depend on the state's willingness to invest in programs that encourage Nevadans to interact with people of other countries.

John Lilley, president of UNR and Bruce Bommarito, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Tourism, explained their respective missions in international diplomacy to representatives of the Las Vegas World Affairs Council Monday.

The 60-member, 1 1/2-year-old Las Vegas organization is observing Global Week, which includes a presentation on the United States' role in the United Nations, an international reception at the Global Gaming Expo and an interfaith dinner co-sponsored by the Islamic Society of Nevada this week.

Lilley said his university is spearheading statewide higher education efforts to develop programs that bring foreign students to the state's universities and colleges and encourage local students to study abroad, while Bommarito and his staff have taken leadership roles in tourism.

Lilley said recent research, including New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's book, "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century," suggests that students must tune themselves in to the world market to achieve success.

"Tom Friedman's book is a wake-up call to us all," Lilley said.

He said UNR has 200 faculty members and 800 students from 75 countries and that they have a $61 million economic impact on the state. But inviting the world to the state's campuses is only part of the effort, he said, and encouraging local students to travel overseas and get to know people and their cultures will give them better perspectives on the global economy.

Lilley recommended that international education be supported at each institution, that adding infrastructure to promote study abroad with international exchanges be encouraged and that there be increased funding for those programs.

He noted that Nevada became the fourth state to support an international education resolution when the Nevada Legislature approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 38 this year. The resolution encourages the development of new courses to increase students' understanding of global issues and cultural differences, the addition of new foreign language courses and producing more forums for international students to express their views publicly.

Bommarito, meanwhile, told representatives of the council that his office has taken a clear leadership role in China, where the state of Nevada has the only U.S.-based tourism office licensed by the Chinese government in Beijing.

Tourism is the state's chief export, he said, with the state endorsing adventure travel in Northern Nevada and experiences in restaurants and retail outlets in Southern Nevada to accompany the state's gaming and tourism package.

The United States doesn't have a unified marketing program for U.S. tourism, but Bommarito said if the nation's market could be increased by just 1 percentage point it would result in an additional 7.6 million in visitors, $12.3 billion in expenditures, more than 150,000 new jobs, a $3.3 billion increase in payroll and $2.1 billion more in federal, state and local tax revenue.

While tourism has been a strong driver of the Nevada economy, Bommarito said more could be done. He noted that while 31 percent of the people in the world speak Mandarin Chinese, there is virtually no signage in Las Vegas in that language.