Las Vegas wants more Non-US Tourists

Sitting on a plane, at the window seat, as the plane approaches Las Vegas McCarran International Airport is one of the best feelings in the world. Whether you are landing in this magical town at daytime and you get to see what seems like an endless stretch of desert land, or if you land at night when the flashing Las Vegas lights will mesmerize you with their brightness and intensity.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority wants more and more international tourists to arrive in Las Vegas and experience all the fun, excitement and luxury the city has to offer.

It is not that all of a sudden tourism officials in Las Vegas have gotten all soft and want to promote world peace by uniting people from all over the world over a shared gambling experience. The sudden need to draw a greater number of international tourists to Las Vegas has a pure economic rationale behind it and that is that international tourists spend more.

The average international tourist to Las Vegas spends $1,011 per stay and tends to visit the city for a period of at least four days at a time, while the average domestic tourist stays in the city for just three days and spends only $645 per stay.

Increasing the numbers of international tourists will give Las Vegas the economic boost it so desperately needs. In fact the whole of the US, with its recession-stricken economy, could benefit for increasing levels of international tourism but tourism industry leaders claim it is not easy to do due to strict US tourist visa laws.

The US Travel Association, the largest lobbying group for the industry, is pushing for an overhaul of immigration laws that will shorten the process of obtaining a tourist visa and therefore open the US to many tourists who are simply deterred by the lengthy and costly tourist visa application process.

Currently there are six different bills before the US Congress and Senate, which are backed by representatives from both political parties. If these bills will be made into law it will be a lot easier for for international tourists to visit the US and many of its wonderful tourist destinations such as Las Vegas.