Politics could affect tourism

TRENO he winner of November’s presidential election could determine just how successful Las Vegas and the United States will be in attracting international visitors.

Will our policies be warm, welcoming and inviting, thus encouraging repeat visits and wordof-mouth endorsements? Or will they be closed, with administrators suspicious of those buying plane tickets to visit the American Southwest?

A panel of tourism experts fielded questions about that last week at the Nevada Governor’s Global Tourism Summit at Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort.

Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison, who chairs the Nevada Commission on Tourism, moderated the panel, which made it clear that the outcome of the Nov. 8 election could have a far greater impact on Southern Nevadans’ day-to-day lives and their jobs than they may have anticipated.

Right now, Las Vegas is sitting in a fairly good position, due in part to some unfortunate circumstances in other parts of the world.

“There are a few storm clouds out there,” said panelist Jonathan Grella, executive vice president of public affairs for the U.S. Travel Association.

He said the United States can’t afford to present the impression that it is trying to build a fortress around its borders. That said, foreign travelers are far more comfortable with a trip to Las Vegas than Europe, which has seen some horrific terrorist events in 2015 and 2016.

But U.S. destinations need to find the exact middle ground. They don’t want to appear to be too restrictive, yet they need to provide the protection visitors need.

Las Vegas is perceived as a safe location because most of its resorts have their own security teams as well as protection from the Metropolitan Police Department, said panelist Rafael Villanueva, senior director of international sales for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Villanueva said it was an important strategic decision to locate a fire station and a police station on the Las Vegas Convention Center campus. Having police and fire presence so close provides quick response times to the entire resort corridor, he said.

Destination marketing expert Alina Xiang, general manager of East West Marketing, Beijing, concurred, saying that while Paris has been a favorite destination of many Chinese tourists, the November terrorist