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LAS VEGAS: BIG GREEN HOTEL MACHINE TO HOST WTTC 2010
Saturday, 01 Jun, 2010
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The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) will host next year’s Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas Summit will be held at ARIA Resort & Casino, the centrepiece of CityCenter, the unprecedented urban resort destination which opened on the Las Vegas Strip in December 2009. CityCenter is a joint venture between MGM MIRAGE and Infinity World Development Corp, a subsidiary of Dubai World.
The ARIA Resort and Casino includes 568 suites, 16 restaurants, nine bars, 1,940 slot machines and 13,935 square meters (150,000 square feet) of gaming space. It is the ninth largest hotel in the world by room count.
ARIA has also been keen to champion its green credentials – the hotel operates the world’s first fleet of stretch limousines powered by compressed natural gas and its slot machines feature bases that serve as ventilation units, cooling guests from the ground up instead of from the ceiling. The hotel is the largest building in the world to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification by the US Green Building Council.
"CityCenter captures the energy and diversity of Las Vegas in one of the world’s largest green developments," said Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Mirage. "Designing CityCenter with sustainable elements and practices reinforces its permanence and creates a healthier environment for our guests and residents, as well as for the 12,000 people who work at CityCenter."
Last year, CityCenter embarked on the single largest hiring effort in the US as it filled 12,000 permanent positions when the spectacular urban resort destination opened on the Las Vegas Strip last December. At the forefront of sustainability, CityCenter is one of the world’s largest green developments.
The partners behind the venture have high hopes that the project will reinvigorate Las Vegas’s tourism business. The hotel claims to have the most technologically advanced guestrooms in the US, with rooms that ‘greet’ the visitor by opening curtains, programmable light ‘scenes’ and a 42-inch HDTV in every room. CityCenter also boasts the largest Distributed Antenna System in the world, covering 1.3 million square meters (14 million square feet) with wifi using more than 6,500 antennas and 2,900 wireless access points.
CityCenter, which houses ARIA along with three other hotels, a shopping mall and residential buildings is reported to have cost around $14 billion (€9.7 billion) and was the single biggest building project in the US.
"The support from Members for Las Vegas has been overwhelming," said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, President & CEO of WTTC, "as the LVCVA submitted such an excellent bid.
Baumgarten added, "We fully intend to make the most of the more than 12 months between now and the Las Vegas event, scheduled for 15-19 May 2011, to promote the importance of Travel & Tourism, and also its wider impact on other sectors, in the United States – the world’s leading Travel & Tourism economy."
"We are honoured to host the 11th Global Travel & Tourism Summit," said LVCVA President/CEO Rossi Ralenkotter. "Las Vegas is a premier destination for leisure and business travel and welcomes more than 36 million visitors annually from around the world. Las Vegas was built to host events.
"The Travel & Tourism industry generates US$30 billion for Southern Nevada and employs 235,000 people. The industry is the economic driver for the State of Nevada," Ralenkotter added.
Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM MIRAGE, said: "We are honoured each day to welcome guests from around the world. To be able to host this distinguished group of travel industry leaders is an especially exciting opportunity for all of us at MGM MIRAGE."
Las Vegas’s Summit bid was significantly strengthened by support from local and regional governments, as well as key industry bodies, such as the US Travel Association (US Travel).
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