Airport surveys area’s business travelers

As Reno Tahoe International Airport executives look to muscle up business-oriented service, they’re gathering data about business travel to the East Coast and international destinations.

The airport distributed a Web-based survey to members of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada in late June, asking detailed questions — preferred days, key destinations — about business travel to the East Coast. The survey also asks a couple of questions about international business travel.

Brian Kulpin, an airport spokesman, said Reno Tahoe International Airport often is viewed as predominately a destination for recreational travelers.

But the airport also serves a growing market of business travelers, and airport executives want to get that information in front of the airline officials who make decisions about the locations where they’ll add flights.

“That is a sought-after market,” Kulpin said, noting that busy business travelers often pay higher fares than the recreational travelers who make vacation plans months in advance.

But even airline executives, he said, sometimes fail to see the potential of the business-travel market in the region.

“People don’t know enough about business in northern Nevada,” Kulpin said. “We think it’s important to go to the business community to poll them about their thoughts about the needed destinations.”

NNBW staff