In just over three years, Allegiant Stadium will host Super Bowl 58 — an event that will trumpet Las Vegas to an international audience as a top tourist destination. The game is broadcast in some 170-plus countries.
Today, U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., stood on the field during a news conference to sell the Omnibus Travel and Tourism Act of 2021, a bill she co-sponsored last year as chairwoman of the Senate Subcommittee on Tourism, Trade and Export Promotion.
The bill would designate money to promote travel and tourism in the United States, including a focus on welcoming international travelers. It has yet to reach the Senate floor.
International travel — a key component of the Las Vegas tourism demographic — has been sharply down since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.
“We have to continue to strengthen Nevada’s tourism industry,” Rosen said. “We know that tourism is a driving force of Nevada’s economy and, over the course of the past two years, it’s been hit hard by the pandemic. Too many Nevadans who have built careers in tourism and travel are still out of work.”
Standing midfield at the home of the Las Vegas Raiders, Rosen and other tourism officials touted the successes of Allegiant Stadium, which last year hosted over 1 million guests to sporting events and concerts.
Along with the 2024 Super Bowl, Allegiant Stadium will host the NFL’s Pro Bowl game early next month.
Rosen also pointed to the 2022 NFL Draft — which will take place in April in Las Vegas — as key tourism event.
“It’s my mission to make sure we overcome this pandemic,” Rosen said. “We’ve already secured $44 million that will expand, upgrade and modernize Harry Reid International Airport so we can more easily bring visitors here from across the country and around the world.”
Funding for the airport is coming through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Rosen said she would like to see better coordination of the country’s “national travel and tourism strategy across federal agencies.”
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is one of a number of Nevada-based organizations in support of the tourism bill.
Others include the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, the Nevada Resort Association and the Nevada Outdoor Business Coalition.
Steve Hill, president and CEO of the LVCVA, lauded the efforts of Rosen and other lawmakers for helping raise awareness of the importance of the tourism industry.
“This industry hasn’t had as much attention, at a federal level, as it really deserves,” Hill said. “It’s a big part of the economy and a big portion of job creation in the United States. At some level, I think it’s been taken for granted. As we’ve gone through the pandemic, that hasn’t been the case, particularly here in Southern Nevada.”
Noting how much the region depends on tourism dollars, Hill said Southern Nevada represents the “community that is most reliant on any single industry” in the U.S.
“This bill is important for Southern Nevada, and important for the entire country,” Hill said.
Through November, just over 29 million people had visited Las Vegas last year, according to the LVCVA.
During a nonpandemic year, Las Vegas welcomes close to 42 million visitors annually. In 2020, that figure was cut in half.
International travel, however, has yet to come close to fully recovering from the significant hit it took from the pandemic.