NCOT Signs Friendship Agreements with Three Chinese Provinces
CARSON CITY, NV, December 4, 2006. Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT) Director Bruce Bommarito signed tourism friendship agreements with three Chinese provinces while in China for the recent China International Travel Mart, the largest international tourism trade show in Asia. NCOT now has friendship agreements with seven Chinese provinces, the most of any U.S. tourism agency.
The friendship agreements are with Shandong Provincial Tourism Administration, Hubei Tourism Administration and the Tourism Administration of Guangdong Province. Shandong is on the eastern coast of China and is the home of Confucius while Guangdong is in the southern portion of the country and includes Macau and Hong Kong and Hubei is an industrialized province in central China.
"Shandong and Guangdong provinces have the two strongest economies in China and they have the greatest potential to bring nonstop flights from China to Nevada," Bommarito said. "To be successful, we have to push from both sides; the name of the game is to keep flights to and from China filled to capacity. These agreements are more than just pieces of paper, they help to educate Chinese residents about Nevada and promote travel to our state."
Agreements have been signed with the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Tourism, Lone Mountain-Jim Gong Mountain in Hubei Province, Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administrative Commission and Liaoning Province. While not legally binding documents, they are another step in positioning Nevada as a leader in international tourism and are promises between Nevada and the Chinese provinces to mutually promote one another as prime travel destinations. In 2004, NCOT became the first U.S. entity with an office in the People's Republic of China that is fully licensed to advertise, promote and market tourism there. The license allows NCOT to advertise to a country of 1.4 billion people and the world's fastest-growing economy.
"International tourism to the United States is a $600 billion industry, and if we could increase our international visitors by only 1 percent, we would add 151,000 new jobs and $2 billion in tax revenue," Bommarito said. "That is just one reason why we're working so hard to keep Nevada, and therefore the whole country, in the spotlight."
Bommarito has led the agency's effort to reach the Chinese market, and while he left leaving NCOT Saturday to take a position with the Travel Industry Association, the agency is committed to continuing his efforts. Lt. Gov.-elect Brian Krolicki, who will step into the position of NCOT chairman when he takes office in January, has accompanied three NCOT tourism missions to China.
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