Tourism readies for year without bowlers

The bowlers won't be in town.

The downtown events center will be.

How that combination plays out will go a long way toward determining the strength of Reno's tourism industry this year.

Two out of three years, the National Bowling Stadium hosts major national tournaments through the spring and early summer events that typically fill about 600 hotel rooms a night and generate business for everyone from cab drivers to restaurant waiters.

This, however, is the third year the one in which the stadium is dark.

Tourism executives are working hard to make up the difference, and they figure the Events Center that opens downtown at the start of the year is a key piece of the puzzle.

That facility is expected to draw more meetings and conventions business from groups that want to offer their members a variety of hotels within walking distance of the meeting site, says Tim Smith, vice president of finance for the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority.

The increase in meeting business is particularly important, he says, as the tourism industry looks to reduce its dependence on bargain- hunting tourists.

Meetings and conventions currently account for between 3 and 4 percent of the tourism traffic through the area.

RSCVA hopes to move that number closer to 7 percent.

The effects of that effort began to become apparent in the second half of 2004, when the room rate collected by Washoe County properties jumped an average of $6.50 a night.

"In hotels, to get a $1 increase in average rate is a tremendous feat," Smith says.

The upward movement in average rate is seen, too, in room-tax collections.

While the number of occupied rooms in Washoe County has remained stable at about 7 million a year, room-tax collections by RSCVA in the fiscal year ended June 30 will total close to $280 million compared with $272 million a year earlier.

Statewide, spirits are buoyant after a year in which Nevada for the first time hosted 50 million visitors, says Bruce Bommarito, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Tourism.

"On the street, it's very optimistic,"says Bommarito."There's no indication that things are going to slow down."

Some of that enthusiasm reflects the success of efforts particularly in the Reno area to build adventure tourism in Nevada, he says.

State tourism officials are confident, too, that rising oil prices won't dampen either visits by air or car.

The sharp spikes in fuel prices earlier this year, Bommarito says, didn't have any noticeable effects on Nevada tourism.

Development of new lodging properties also will play role in the tourism industry in 2005.

Hawthorne Suites and Hampton Inn, for instance, are expected to be among the branded properties that open in Carson City during 2005, says Candace Duncan, executive director of the Carson City Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Her agency projects that tourism in Carson City as measured by occupancy and average daily rate will continue at its current strong levels into 2005.