Job well done = Trip to Vegas

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007 | 6:59 a.m.

The Chunichi Dragons baseball team of Nagoya didn't win the Japan Series this year, but players still got a nice consolation prize - a trip to Las Vegas.

Team executives decided to reward players for winning the Central League pennant and even though they lost the best-of-seven Japan Series to the Nippon Ham Fighters of Hokkaido in five games in October, they were on a charter flight to McCarran International Airport last month.

Upon landing, they were given the quintessential Vegas welcome by a showgirl and an Elvis impersonator.

The trip is an example of how Las Vegas is becoming known as a reward destination, where bosses send the best performers to party. In the travel business, such employee bonuses are known as "incentive reward travel," and it's a growing niche that is getting more attention from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

"It's a thank you for a job well done," said Michael Goldsmith, director of convention sales for the authority. "Travel incentives are a huge motivator, and with all the amenities Las Vegas has, there are plenty of things to do that make for an attractive reward."

Conventions and trade shows bring about 17 percent of the city's nearly 39 million annual visitors to Las Vegas. It's unclear how many visitors fall in the category of incentive reward recipients.

Anecdotally, the numbers seem to be climbing, Goldsmith said, and an organization devoted to incentive travel met in Las Vegas last year to give travel planners a sample of what Las Vegas can offer.

As a reward destination, Las Vegas competes with the Caribbean, Hawaii, Fiji, Mexico and Paris, said Brenda Anderson, chief executive of the Society of Incentive and Travel Executives.

Incentive travel planners say destinations typically are chosen because they offer lavish adventures. As a result, Las Vegas - which is considered easily accessible - hasn't been sufficiently exotic in the minds of some travel planners to be considered a top reward.

But that reputation may be changing, Goldsmith said.

"As the destination evolves with higher-end product in shopping, dining, spas and shows, we're seeing more companies look to us," he said.

Tom Hillmer, a meeting and incentive travel planner for Chicago-based Creative Group Inc., said the ideal incentive trip offers something average tourists couldn't get on their own - such as parties at Turnberry Place's Stirling Club and Mandalay Bay's Foundation Room.

Hillmer said he recently organized a Las Vegas scavenger hunt for top performers of a software company, giving them Polaroid cameras and photo assignments.

And then he dispatched them - in limousines.