A drop in gas prices is seen as a white
knight at area tourism offices. Still, most in
the tourism industry remain cautious about
the outlook for 2009, while others face a slide
in customers.
"We're more of a drive than fly location.
Now that gas prices
have dropped, that's
good for us," says
Candace Duncan,
executive director at
Carson City
Convention and
Visitors Bureau."But
we budgeted conservatively
because the
economy was suffering."
In Carson Valley, Bill Chernock, executive
director of Carson Valley Chamber of
Commerce and Visitors Authority, says,"It's
difficult to be remarkably optimistic considering
the state of the national economy but in
Carson Valley we have a terrific product,
accessible to our drive market."
Hot August Nights Marketing Director
Nicole Maddox says the summertime attraction
is completely booked, with 5,500 spots
filled and 2,000 people on a waiting list.
"People love this and make it a priority,"
Maddox says.
At Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe,Marketing
Director Mike Pierce says,"Even during tough
times people still recreate. People still ski.
We're a value-based resort. The casino packages
out of Reno are the most unbelievable,
like Sands' Ski and Stay package for $59."
But a trip to the casino exacts a tougher
toll than does a lift ticket.
Casinos consultant Dennis Conrad, president
and chief strategist at Raving
Consulting, says,"This area will continue to
be under economic stress. I'm seeing a lot of
troubling warning signs that things will get
worse before they get better."
Gaming board figures show the casino
take down 20 percent, and Conrad predicts
that trend to continue.
He points to the closing of Fitzgerald's in
downtown Reno a few weeks ago and says,"I
see others following suit."
The only bright spot, he adds: "Reno has
for so long been a market under siege that I
don't see how it can go further down."
But Frederick Steinmann, a business consultant
with the Nevada Small Business
Development Center, says,"With a 1 percent
growth in the tourism industry recently, I
wouldn't be surprised to see it slide into negative
numbers."
Even though
Reno's downtown
has become more
diversified, it's still
dominated by casinos,
and Steinmann
notes that the No. 1
thing that people do
on vacation is shop.
"Reno doesn't
have much shopping downtown," he says.
"Other cities, like San Francisco and San
Diego, have specialty downtowns geared to
tourism shopping."
And people's consumption choices have
become more sophisticated, he adds. The
Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas with
160 stores and 13 restaurants and food shops
are a perfect example of that.
"The $2 shot glass or $5 T-shirt no longer
cut it," Steinmann says.
The sputtering economy has put the
brakes on new projects launched by tourism
agencies.
Carson City, says Duncan, will just do the
events it has done, but won't take on anything
new. The tourism bureau provides staff time,
advertising and marketing help, but event
organizers must raise their own operating
funds.
The Carson Valley bureau also puts the
responsibility for new events on their operators.
"We're counting on the ingenuity of individual
event producers," says Chernock."But
all the usual festivals are going to be there."
Still, he adds,"We do expect an impact.
The hotels will have to be price sensitive.
Being an affordable destination, we're being
prepared to weather an economically tough
year."
But hard times have an upside, says Susan
Sutton, executive director of Virginia City Convention and Tourism Authority.
"The good ship tourism is in rocky waters
with big white caps. But this is an opportunity
for growth and brand development, to get
creative and devise new programs."
The Virginia City authority will reevaluate
programs that don't work
and tweak those that do.
"It's not about thinking
out of the box," Sutton
says,"It's about blowing
that box up."
In response to the
recession, she says, the
authority will become a
destination management
organization."We'll develop
new concepts, different
ways to sell, so that
when this thing turns
around, we're out there,"
she says.
To drum up business, says Sutton,"We're
all holding hands."
Virginia City has partnered with Ely, Elko
and Tonopah to create group tours such as
"America's Wild West Nevada" designed to
bring in tourists by the busload from San
Francisco, Las Vegas and Utah.And a "Dig
Mines" promotion brings tours to Nevada's
mining towns.
"Individual visitors are great," she says,
"but we also want eight busloads coming
through here."
And, to celebrate its 150-year anniversary,
Virginia City plans a series of events, beginning
with a kick-off party in February.
"Virginia City is having a big birthday party
and you're invited," says Sutton.
Reno Sparks Visitor and Convention
Authority Executive Director Ellen
Oppenheim says that nationally, the industry
expects flat or reduced revenues this year
because consumers are taking shorter trips
closer to home.
Despite Reno's position as a drive market
for the Bay Area, 2008 room tax revenues fell
below budget forecasts. To boost that tourist
segment, the RSCVA is airing a new ad campaign,"
Reno Rules," in Bay Area print and
broadcast media. The Bay Area is the source
of 56 percent of the visitors to Reno-Tahoe.
On the convention front, Oppenheim says
that because the big events are booked three
to five years out, bookings are not down.
However, companies are taking less space
and sending fewer people to staff their
booths.And attendee reservations are down,
as companies that must spring for travel
expenses send fewer people to those conventions.
