Tourism official calls Trump’s foreign policy a challenge for international tourism promotion

Despite President Donald Trump’s attempted travel ban, local tourism officials are courting new airlines and promoting a welcoming message to international travelers at the Routes Americas 2017 conference underway at Aria in Las Vegas.

“The most important thing from a travel standpoint, is that you need to be able to provide a safe trip, but you also need to be welcoming, and I think that’s the message we put forth,” said Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter.

Ralenkotter said nearly half of all visitors to Las Vegas arrive by plane, and international visitation stands at 16 percent — a number the LVCVA wants to see grow to 30 percent.

Though the Routes Americas conferences focuses on the Americas, aviation officials from other regions come too.

Chris Jones, chief marketing officer for McCarran International Airport, said it’s difficult to market a city that is friendly to international visitors in a national political climate that might be interpreted differently.

“It’s a challenge whenever there is something that could be perceived as, ‘Coming to America is problematic.’ I understand security, I understand the reasoning behind what is going forward but we also want to project a welcoming message to people from around the world and that’s a balance that needs to be struck.”

Jones said McCarran has not felt or seen any immediate impact on their relationship with airlines from the seven countries identified in Trump’s attempted temporary travel ban.

But, he said if there is any impact, it would be over the long term driven by a decrease in traveler demand.

“That filters back to the airline decision-makers,” Jones said. “We’re not there yet and I hope we never get there.”

DIALOGUE UNDERWAY

Although the three-day conference began Tuesday, the dialogue between Las Vegas tourism officials and airlines they’d like to partner with began Wednesday.

Jones said the Las Vegas team has more than 30 meetings scheduled Wednesday and Thursday with airlines and others in the aviation industry.

“Route network decisions are not made quickly; they take place sometimes over many years,” Jones said. “Mexico is always an opportunity; South America is always an opportunity we want to strengthen. Canada has been a great market for us; it’s had some economic challenges recently. We want to talk to them, we want to talk to Europe, we want to talk to Asia, all throughout the year. This is just what we do to try to continue to bring new service in.”

Conversations at a Routes conference in 2013 ultimately led to the city landing its first nonstop service between mainland China to Las Vegas last December out of a partnership with Hainan Airlines, the largest privately owned airline in China, begins.

Jones and Ralenkotter said the more routes, and the more nonstop routes, the better for the city.

Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter.