Industry News
LAS VEGAS - Las Vegas' growing popularity among international travelers is no secret, but new data garnered primarily from US Department of Commerce research suggests the international visitor now contributes more to Las Vegas' bottom line than ever before. Comprising 18 percent of overall visitation to Las Vegas and 27 percent of tourism revenue in 2010, international visitors came in record numbers from various markets including five key overseas countries marking double digit increases from the prior year.
"International visitation is one of our identified growth markets," said Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). "Our goal is to increase the international market share to 30 percent over the next 10 years."
The LVCVA promotes Las Vegas globally with the help of 15 partner offices representing more than 70 countries.
Canada, Australia, Germany, France, China and South Korea each marked visitor increases of more than 20 percent in 2010 with the largest increase (60 percent) coming from South Korea, a new Visa waiver country where Korean Air operates a non-stop flight to Las Vegas from Seoul.
While emerging countries still represent a modest number of Las Vegas visitors annually, visitation from China increased by 38 percent in 2010, and US Department of Commerce data projects Chinese visitors to the US will increase by 219 percent by 2015.
"The international demand for Las Vegas demonstrates the global reach of our brand," said Ralenkotter. "Additionally, working with McCarran International Airport, we continue to create more accessibility for the international traveler by securing more non-stop flights from key countries."
Since April, Las Vegas has welcomed new international non-stop flights from Guadalajara, Mexico on Volaris Airlines and from Manchester, England on Virgin Atlantic Airlines. Additionally, British Airways expanded the capacity of its existing non-stop flight to Las Vegas from London by 18 percent due to UK travel demand, and XL Airways from France re-instituted its seasonal non-stop flight to Las Vegas from
Paris.
With more than 37 million total visitors in 2010, Las Vegas currently welcomes about 21,500 international passengers weekly on 144 non-stop flights from 16 foreign cities. With the addition of Terminal 3 at McCarran International Airport in 2012, Las Vegas will expand its ability to accommodate even more international flight arrivals.
ABOUT THE LVCVAThe Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) is charged with marketing Southern Nevada as a tourism and convention destination worldwide, and also with operating the Las Vegas Convention Center and Cashman Center. With approximately 148,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas alone and more than 10.5 million square feet of meeting and exhibit space citywide, the LVCVA's mission centers on attracting ever-increasing numbers of leisure and business visitors to the area. For more information, go to www.lvcva.com or www.VisitLasVegas.com.
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