Las Vegas Tourism to spend $101.5 million for advertising

In a move to promote Las Vegas as tourist destination, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) will spend $101.5 million from the operation budget for advertising in the next fiscal year. The authority’s board of directors approved $359.8 million as operating budget on Thursday and decided to spend more than a quarter of this amount to advertise the destination. The authority mainly aims at filling around 1,50,000 rooms daily by advertising, special events and through domestic and international public relations.

The plan comes on a time when Las Vegas has experienced a decline in the number of tourists over the last 10 months. Under the new budget, the authority plans to have 538 employees, eight less than the current year, as a result of a staff cutback connected to the transfer of Cashman Center to the city. The funding for advertising was decided on LVCVA board meeting and also addressed the fund transfer towards the five-year, $1.4 billion Las Vegas Convention Center expansion and renovation project that runs till 2023.

Almost 83 percent of the authority’s income comes from Clark County’s tax on hotel rooms, the rate of which varies based on a property’s location. Facility charges constitute 15 percent and the remaining 2 percent coming from other sources. The approval of Senate Bill 1 by the Nevada Legislature gives the LVCVA an additional 0.5 per cent increase in the room tax. The budget for special includes funding for the National Finals Rodeo, the city’s New Year’s Eve celebration, two NASCAR races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the first of 20 $4 million payments toward the Las Vegas Ballpark sponsorship.