Las Vegas business owner touting U.S.A. as a brand
Whether you like it or not, the United States of America is now a brand, and Las Vegas business owner Stephen Cloobeck is leading the marketing charge.
At the Tuesday meeting of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors, Cloobeck, who is the chairman of the Corporation for Travel Promotion, spoke like a one-man cheering squad.
"We've been competing with other states in the United States," Cloobeck said. "Today we are united for the first time."
Cloobeck, who also is chairman and chief executive officer of Diamond Resorts International, is responsible for promoting United States travel to international tourists. The nonprofit, public-private partnership was established by Congress under the Travel Promotion Act, which was signed into law in March 2010.
Brand USA will launch officially on Nov. 7 at the World Travel Market in London.
"You'll see the brand soon," Cloobeck told the travel authority's board of directors. "You'll be proud of it."
While speaking, Cloobeck shared one of the agency's goals, which is to increase Las Vegas' market share of international visitors from its current rate of 18 percent to 30 percent, within 10 years.
"We just need to make sure we can stay on track with that," Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter said.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, the average overseas visitor to the U.S. spends $4,000 on hotels, restaurants and retail.
"I think this is certainly important to Las Vegas over the next five years," said Chuck Bowling, a member of Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's board of directors and president and chief executive officer of Mandalay Bay.
Travel and tourism is the nation's largest services sector export, representing 25 percent of service exports and 7 percent of all U.S. exports. In 2010, international travel to the United States generated a trade surplus of $32 billion and supported 1.2 million jobs.
The Travel Promotion Act established a funding structure for the agency that allows all private-sector funding, both cash and in-kind, to be matched 1-to-1 by the monies collected from the $14 Electronic System for Travel Authorization fee paid by visa waiver travelers. However, in the organization's first full fiscal year, it will be funded based on a 2-to-1 match.
A combination of cash and in-kind contributions from the private sector will fund at least 50 percent of the program's $200 million budget. On Tuesday, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority approved a $100,000 expense to help fund the corporation. The agency also has received funds from large companies including Marriott, Disney and Hilton, which all gave $1 million.
Matching funds will be drawn from the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, equalling $10 from every visa. The remaining $4 goes to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
At the travel authority's meeting, Cloobeck said his organization's initial goal is to raise $10 million in cash and $40 million worth of in-kind donations to qualify to receive the matching public funding.
"I hope to far exceed that," he said.
Contact reporter Laura Emerson at
lemerson@lvbusinesspress.com
or 702-380-4588.
