Falling gas prices to help tourism?

A drop in gas prices is seen as a white

knight at area tourism offices. Still, most in

the tourism industry remain cautious about

the outlook for 2009, while others face a slide

in customers.

"We're more of a drive than fly location.

Now that gas prices

have dropped, that's

good for us," says

Candace Duncan,

executive director at

Carson City

Convention and

Visitors Bureau."But

we budgeted conservatively

because the

economy was suffering."

In Carson Valley, Bill Chernock, executive

director of Carson Valley Chamber of

Commerce and Visitors Authority, says,"It's

difficult to be remarkably optimistic considering

the state of the national economy but in

Carson Valley we have a terrific product,

accessible to our drive market."

Hot August Nights Marketing Director

Nicole Maddox says the summertime attraction

is completely booked, with 5,500 spots

filled and 2,000 people on a waiting list.

"People love this and make it a priority,"

Maddox says.

At Mt. Rose-Ski Tahoe,Marketing

Director Mike Pierce says,"Even during tough

times people still recreate. People still ski.

We're a value-based resort. The casino packages

out of Reno are the most unbelievable,

like Sands' Ski and Stay package for $59."

But a trip to the casino exacts a tougher

toll than does a lift ticket.

Casinos consultant Dennis Conrad, president

and chief strategist at Raving

Consulting, says,"This area will continue to

be under economic stress. I'm seeing a lot of

troubling warning signs that things will get

worse before they get better."

Gaming board figures show the casino

take down 20 percent, and Conrad predicts

that trend to continue.

He points to the closing of Fitzgerald's in

downtown Reno a few weeks ago and says,"I

see others following suit."

The only bright spot, he adds: "Reno has

for so long been a market under siege that I

don't see how it can go further down."

But Frederick Steinmann, a business consultant

with the Nevada Small Business

Development Center, says,"With a 1 percent

growth in the tourism industry recently, I

wouldn't be surprised to see it slide into negative

numbers."

Even though

Reno's downtown

has become more

diversified, it's still

dominated by casinos,

and Steinmann

notes that the No. 1

thing that people do

on vacation is shop.

"Reno doesn't

have much shopping downtown," he says.

"Other cities, like San Francisco and San

Diego, have specialty downtowns geared to

tourism shopping."

And people's consumption choices have

become more sophisticated, he adds. The

Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas with

160 stores and 13 restaurants and food shops

are a perfect example of that.

"The $2 shot glass or $5 T-shirt no longer

cut it," Steinmann says.

The sputtering economy has put the

brakes on new projects launched by tourism

agencies.

Carson City, says Duncan, will just do the

events it has done, but won't take on anything

new. The tourism bureau provides staff time,

advertising and marketing help, but event

organizers must raise their own operating

funds.

The Carson Valley bureau also puts the

responsibility for new events on their operators.

"We're counting on the ingenuity of individual

event producers," says Chernock."But

all the usual festivals are going to be there."

Still, he adds,"We do expect an impact.

The hotels will have to be price sensitive.

Being an affordable destination, we're being

prepared to weather an economically tough

year."

But hard times have an upside, says Susan

Sutton, executive director of Virginia City Convention and Tourism Authority.

"The good ship tourism is in rocky waters

with big white caps. But this is an opportunity

for growth and brand development, to get

creative and devise new programs."

The Virginia City authority will reevaluate

programs that don't work

and tweak those that do.

"It's not about thinking

out of the box," Sutton

says,"It's about blowing

that box up."

In response to the

recession, she says, the

authority will become a

destination management

organization."We'll develop

new concepts, different

ways to sell, so that

when this thing turns

around, we're out there,"

she says.

To drum up business, says Sutton,"We're

all holding hands."

Virginia City has partnered with Ely, Elko

and Tonopah to create group tours such as

"America's Wild West Nevada" designed to

bring in tourists by the busload from San

Francisco, Las Vegas and Utah.And a "Dig

Mines" promotion brings tours to Nevada's

mining towns.

"Individual visitors are great," she says,

"but we also want eight busloads coming

through here."

And, to celebrate its 150-year anniversary,

Virginia City plans a series of events, beginning

with a kick-off party in February.

"Virginia City is having a big birthday party

and you're invited," says Sutton.

Reno Sparks Visitor and Convention

Authority Executive Director Ellen

Oppenheim says that nationally, the industry

expects flat or reduced revenues this year

because consumers are taking shorter trips

closer to home.

Despite Reno's position as a drive market

for the Bay Area, 2008 room tax revenues fell

below budget forecasts. To boost that tourist

segment, the RSCVA is airing a new ad campaign,"

Reno Rules," in Bay Area print and

broadcast media. The Bay Area is the source

of 56 percent of the visitors to Reno-Tahoe.

On the convention front, Oppenheim says

that because the big events are booked three

to five years out, bookings are not down.

However, companies are taking less space

and sending fewer people to staff their

booths.And attendee reservations are down,

as companies that must spring for travel

expenses send fewer people to those conventions.