Tourism Summit to showcase Boulder City offerings

By Bill Erin

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 | 1:50 p.m.

The Boulder City Tourism Commission will take a major step on Feb. 19 when it holds a "Boulder City Tourism Summit" at the Boulder Creek Golf Course pavilion. It's another step forward toward the goal of making the Las Vegas Valley more aware of Boulder City and its attractions while at the same time integrating with the Las Vegas Valley's tourism advertising and marketing.

The B.C. Tourism Commission was put together six years ago, mostly through the efforts of Councilman Mike Pacini. He convinced the local Redevelopment Agency to invest $50,000 in this project and negotiated a matching grant of $49,000 from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

On this meager budget of $99,000 a year, a drop in the bucket compared with other tourism budgets, the B.C. Tourism Commission has done an amazing job of reaching out to the Las Vegas Valley with its slogan, "A World Away For a Day." It is meant to contrast the glitz, gambling and crowds of Las Vegas and the Strip with the quiet uniqueness of Boulder City.

The commission has put together an ad and marketing campaign that received nationwide publicity when its tourism logo and slogan was projected in full on Hoover Dam during the 75th anniversary celebration of Las Vegas.

Locally, under Pacini's leadership, a new, electronic sign being erected at the corner of Buchanan Street and Nevada Highway that directs tourists into Boulder City was financed by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and a $100,000 grant from the local RDA.

All this because Pacini, representing Boulder City on the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, was able to convince them, in his words, "that we are an important part of the Southern Nevada scene, that we need them and they need us."

Next week's summit is the result of six years' work bringing Boulder City under the Las Vegas authority's tourism umbrella while at the same time letting the huge populace of the Las Vegas Valley know that there is something here they should explore. The event will provide Boulder City businesses an opportunity to share ideas and knowledge with each other and, at the same time, meet and network with Las Vegas and Clark County tourism and hospitality reps.

All Boulder City hotels, motels, restaurants and tourism retail outlets wishing to do so will have a six-foot table for handouts and displays. Las Vegas and Henderson casino and tour operators attending the summit will learn what Boulder City has to offer.

There will also be tourism-involved representatives of the Bureau of Reclamation, Hoover Dam and National Park Service on hand to see what Boulder City has.

The main speaker at the accompanying luncheon will be the colorful and dynamic mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman. Also present will be Rossi Ralenkotter, president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and Jerry Jilinsky Sr., the authority's vice president of marketing.

Pacini, who is leaving the City Council this year and, by extension his spot as Boulder City's representative on the authority board, hopes to continue his work in this area. Whether he remains as president of the tourism commission is up to the local board. It would seem to be smart on their part to keep Pacini at the helm.

"Our biggest accomplishment," Pacini said, "is getting all of Boulder City and the tourism elements in the valley to work together."

The Boulder City Tourism Commission expenditure is often under attack because advertising and marketing are difficult endeavors to quantify. Advertising agencies, constantly in need of justification for their expenditures, will substantiate that. All we know is that it works.

Jill Lagan, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, put it this way: "The tourism commission and its marketing campaign have been a true asset to Boulder City businesses and nonprofit organizations."

Bill Erin is a Boulder City News columnist.