LVCVA renews agreements, vows to oppose immigration initiative

Las Vegas Sun
By Richard N. Velotta
Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority today renewed agreements with 12 offices that represent the city in 75 markets worldwide, placing the most emphasis on Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe.

The LVCVA board of directors unanimously approved an option to an existing two-year agreement that would cost $1.8 million in the 2011 fiscal year that begins July 1 and up to $1.9 million in the 2012 fiscal year that begins a year after that.

LVCVA marketing experts are pushing to increase international visitation from the 2009 level of 14 percent of all visitors to 20 percent in five years.

The LVCVA does that by contracting with travel marketing companies in 12 cities. Nine of the 12 companies get flat-rate administrative fees while three others are paid on a project-by-project basis.

The LVCVA is paying $250,000 each to VoX International, Toronto, to market Canada, and Hills-Balfour Synergy, London, to market in the United Kingdom.

It also has a $475,000 contract with Aviareps, Munich, Germany, to sell to the European Union; $200,000 to Ad Nova, Mexico City, for Mexico; $150,000 to Travel Link, Tokyo, for Japan; $140,000 to BrandStory, Shanghai, for China; $130,000 to Marketing Spirit, Sydney, Australia, to market Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia; $120,000 to Connect Worldwide, Seoul, for South Korea; and $75,000 to Aereps, Dublin, Ireland, to market in Ireland.

The board also authorized spending on a per-project basis to Interamerican, Sao Paulo, Brazil, to market to Brazil and South America; Aviareps AG, Moscow, to market Russia and Eastern Europe; and Connect Worldwide, New Delhi, to market in India.

Each of the offices has a similar scope of work and responsibilities, but the different funding levels are reflective of different rent and expense costs in those cities and adjustments for international currency values.

Representatives of the LVCVA’s international offices make sales calls and attend travel trade shows and conferences on the bureau’s behalf.

“They not only represent our brand, but they embody our brand,â€