Abstract
Prior to the pandemic, more than 42 million individuals visited Las Vegas annually, and 14% were from outside the U.S. The number of overseas visitors increased by more than a million people during the decade from 2009-2018. The greatest increase in international visitors came from Brazil, China, South Korea, Argentina, and India. This chapter sought to examine international visitors to Las Vegas with the overarching research question: Why has the international tourist market to Las Vegas increased among specific countries and how can this information be utilized for future marketing purposes in a post-COVID-19 world? The most significant findings highlighted the increases in GDP and GDP per capita of the visitor countries. The city of Las Vegas can better target growth patterns like these to plan for the return of international visitors, along with marketing plans to reinvigorate international tourists to the region following the pandemic.
TopIntroduction
The tourism sector is the most important economic driver in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. More than one-fourth of Southern Nevada’s gross domestic product (GDP) and nearly one-third of jobs in the area are directly attributable to the tourism industry according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau [LVCVA] (2019). These numbers eclipse other cities in the country for the largest share of GDP and jobs from the tourism and hospitality sector and rival any high-tourist area in the world. Nationally, tourism accounts for 4.1 percent of GDP in the U.S. whereas it is greater than 20 percent in Las Vegas. Among other top urban destinations in the United States, such as Los Angeles, New York, and Miami, the tourism industry accounts for no more than 5 percent of GDP. Las Vegas’s economic dependence on tourism cannot be overestimated.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2019 calendar year counted more than 42 million individual visitors to Las Vegas, and 14 percent were from outside the U.S. Given the proximity to the U.S., a large percentage of international visitors came from North American neighbors, Canada and Mexico, but an increasing number of international visitors were from overseas. In fact, the number of visitors from Canada and Mexico was nearly stagnant over the past decade prior to the pandemic, while overseas visitors increased by more than 67 percent (>1.24 million visitors) during the same time. The greatest increase in international visitors in the past ten years have been from Brazil (+395%), China (+238%), South Korea (+214%), Argentina (+162%), and India (+124%). The growing international segment of Las Vegas’s tourist population is an important one to note, especially because international visitors tend to stay longer and spend more than domestic visitors in the market (LVCVA, 2019; Yoo, Singh, & Ghaharian, 2017). Therefore, the purpose of this manuscript is to examine the increase of international visitors to Las Vegas and better understand the motivations for international tourism behavior in Las Vegas as an opportunity for future marketing from both an economic and cultural perspective in a post-covid world. The overarching research questions guiding this study are: Why did the international tourist market to Las Vegas increase among specific countries? And how can this information be utilized for future marketing purposes in a post-covid urban tourism market? These questions will be analyzed by focusing on the change in visitors over the 2009-2018 decade by determining the tourist country-of-origin’s GDP, GDP per capita, innovation, Geert Hofstede dimensions, and world happiness index. By better understanding these visitor country inputs, the city can better target growth patterns to market for future growth and economic benefit, especially in a post COVID-19 world.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Resource Dependence Theory (RDT): Resource Dependence Theory was identified in 1978 by Pfeffer and Salancik to indicate how firms, organizations, and other entities rely on the procurement of external resources to survive and thrive. Dependent resources may be
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA): According to their website, the LVCVA is a professional organization designed to “promote Las Vegas as the world’s most desirable destination for leisure and business travel.” They create marketing for the region, as well as events, advocacy, and research to be the travel and tourism industry leaders of Southern Nevada.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): This is a comprehensive measure of economic activity for a country, state, city, or region. As one example, as of the writing of this chapter, the GDP of France was over $2.5 trillion USD, and the economy of the Paris metropolitan area generates about one-third of the French GDP.
Geert Hofstede Dimensions (GH Dimensions): The GH dimensions are a series of six measurements of national culture: Power Distance, Individualism, Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity, Long Term Orientation, and Indulgence. Most countries of the world are rated on these six characteristics to provide a comprehensive typology of culture for each nation. Learn more at geerthofstede.com.
financial: physical, and/or informational in nature, and firm behavior may adapt for the acquisition of these resources.