Miller detours from trade mission

Gov. Bob Miller is in Mexico today on the first day of a tourism and economic development mission to Latin America.

He's also been asked to take a detour to Ecuador to lead a White House delegation attending the inauguration of that nation's new president.

A Miller spokesman in Carson City said Miller would fly to the capital city of Quito to lead a group attending the inauguration of President-elect Jamil Mahuad on Saturday and Sunday.

Mahuad, a Harvard-educated university professor, formerly served as mayor of Quito and will take the presidency of Ecuador on Monday.

Miller had planned on being in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend and had meetings set with Brazilian airline executives. Other members of the governor's group, including Tom Tait, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Tourism and Las Vegas City Councilman Arnie Adamsen, are expected to continue the tourism mission without the governor, who will catch up early next week in Brazil or Argentina after the inauguration in Ecuador.

Miller is expected to be the ranking U.S. representative for the White House delegation in Ecuador. While there, he hopes to meet with tourism and transportation officials to promote visits to Nevada.

While some of the business people Miller was to visit may be disappointed by the change, it isn't expected to have an impact on the results of the trip.

When Miller flew to Asia in June, he had the prize within his grasp -- nonstop air service between Tokyo and Las Vegas -- before he even left McCarran International Airport.

But that isn't the case in his three-nation mission to Latin America.

The group joining Miller on the weeklong mission to encourage direct air service from Mexico, Brazil and Argentina will be smaller than the contingent that went to Japan and Taiwan.

Rafael "Ray" Vega, a North Las Vegas entrepreneur who also wears the hat of honorary consul general to Mexico, will accompany Miller as will Tait, Adamsen and a representative of Circus Circus Enterprises and Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.

Unlike the Asia trip, Miller won't have the resources of representatives from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority or McCarran International Airport.

The governor's office originally announced that Manuel Cortez, executive director of the LVCVA, would join the governor on the trip. But agency spokesmen said Cortez had committed to being in New York this weekend for an event honoring vendors who sell East Coast tourists on Las Vegas vacations.

The LVCVA's Tokyo-based liaison traveled with the governor in Asia and Harry Kassap, manager of air service development at McCarran, also was with the group.

Vega, who has traveled with the governor on trips to Mexico in the past, said he hopes to open doors for several Southern Nevada business people. He said that because of the formal nature many Mexican business people place on negotiating deals, a contingent led by a dignitary often is the best way to break the ice for a new business relationship.

The Nevada Commission on Tourism has arranged meetings for the governor's group with representatives of AeroMexico and Mexicana Airlines, the two leading air carriers of that country, and Allegro, the top charter operator, today and Friday in Mexico City.

In Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, the group will confer with executives from Vasp and Varig Brazilian Airlines. The contingent will then meet with leaders of Aerolineas Argentinas, a leading national carrier, in Buenos Aires.

State officials say their intent is to encourage the foreign carriers to develop nonstop flights between their major markets in their respective countries and McCarran.

But experts close to the process say the governor is likely to be disappointed if he expects to announce air service with the significance of the Tokyo-Las Vegas flights.

For openers, the Latin American market is not as big as Asia. LVCVA and McCarran officials have courted air carriers serving Tokyo for months leading up the governor's trip. While some initial contact has been made with the Latin carriers, insiders say they aren't as close to committing to service to Las Vegas. Any announcements during the governor's visit would be a surprise.

Another factor: The South American economy may be weaker than Asia's, even with Japan's current recession gripping the nation.

A bigger prize could be on the horizon for Miller when he tours Europe in the fall. Coincidentally, U.S. and British officials announced bilateral talks would begin anew in early October, just before Miller plans his visit.

Las Vegas got shut out in the most recent attempt to secure a nonstop flight between London and McCarran when Britain's aviation administrators chose a British Airways proposal to serve Denver over Virgin Atlantic Airline's plan to have two flights a week to Las Vegas when a trans-Atlantic air slot became available.

The bilateral talks are even broader than the airport slot negotiations. They will address "open skies" agreements between the two nations that would allow airlines of both countries the right to fly to whatever city they want, as long as airport slots are available.

London is considered a key position because it is a crossroads for flights from both Europe and Africa to North America. Las Vegas already has nonstop flights to and from Belgium and Germany.

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