Nevada was the nation’s first state to open an official tourism office in China in 2004, which helped boost tourism numbers from the world’s largest nation.
Now, Nevada is eyeing India as the next opportunity to and anticipates growing tourist arrivals from India by more than 10 percent.
To make that happen, Nevada hired Sartha Global to be its representative in India and is paying it $280,000 over four years to market Nevada as a tourist destination for Indian travelers.
India has an estimated 450 million middle-class citizens, about 50 million of whom have passports and indicate a willingness to travel abroad.
The Internet likely will play a large role in marketing Las Vegas, Reno, Laughlin, Lake Tahoe, Mesquite, and other popular Nevada gaming destinations.
India has more than 400 million Internet users, including more than 125 million with Facebook accounts, making online marketing an invaluable and cost-effective marketing tool, according to the Nevada Commission on Tourism.
Surveys indicate the United States is the top tourism destination for Indians planning to travel abroad, and Las Vegas ranks third, behind only New York and San Francisco, as the most desirable destinations for visitors from India.
Nearby California also has a significantly large population of about 600,000 people who are of Indian descent, and many of them have family members who visit each year.
