VEGAS INC Magazine - Latest Las Vegas business news, features and commentaries about gaming, tourism, real estate and more
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THE R.V. OPINIONS: EVERYONE'S GOT ONE Earlier in the week, I'd listened to Applied Analy- sis guru Jeremy Aguero enlighten the World Affairs Council of Las Vegas with statistics about the impact of foreign tourists on Las Vegas' economy. No doubt about it: They spend much more time and money here than do our fellow Americans. And now, they'd be arriving at T3. Airport T THE B.S. The other benefits of Terminal 3 by Bruce Spotleson Hudson News store. Hudson has a large presence at he local airport isn't a place where most of choose to linger. But an air- port like ours is more than a collection of gates; it's part of our economic engine. check out So, off I headed June 27 to the testament to modern aviation that is McCarran International Air- port's new Terminal 3. us would McCarran and seems particularly appropriate for an international terminal since it is a subsidiary of the Swiss retailer Dufry AG. Even occasional flyers know that if Hudson doesn't have it, you probably don't need it. Joseph DiDomizio, the company's president and CEO, stood outside the newest store. I mentioned that the retailer seemed to have evolved. "Needs have changed," he said, guiding me to a sec- tion stocked with accessories for seemingly any elec- tronic ever made. We studied the display space. "We never would have had 12 feet of this before," he said. My initial encounter with the terminal went smoothly, mostly because I didn't have to go through the show-stopping routine of removing my belt and shoes to clear the security checkpoint. As I walked out into the bright, new space, I happened upon Bet- sy Fretwell, Las Vegas' city manager. She mentioned economic diversification. "One of the things we need to focus on in this com- munity from a business standpoint is our interna- tional presence," she said. I continued on my tour and soon encountered Rosemary Vassiliadis, McCarran's deputy director of aviation. "It's a beautiful facility," she said. "But I'm more proud of the flexibility it offers us as a whole." Flexibility may be T3's greatest asset. The gates are designed for common use, meaning they can be shared by airlines. That reduces the likelihood of an- noying arrival delays, when arriving planes and pas- sengers are told they must wait for a gate to become available. Not what you want to hear after a daylong flight from London. Walking along, I came upon an old friend — a 18 | 9 JULY 2012 | "If you go back to the '80s, 35 percent of sales were tobacco and newspapers," he continued. "Today, those categories represent less than 4 percent. In the '90s, over 50 percent of the mix was 'readables.' Today, it's about a third. And in the '90s, newsstands didn't have beverages. Today, 100 percent of our locations do." Because the new store is in an international termi- nal located in one of the world's top tourist destina- tions, souvenirs figure heavily into sales. "It's a much bigger concept here," DiDomizio said. "In vacation destinations like Las Vegas and Orlando, souvenirs are a much bigger percentage of sales." The formal program was about to begin, with featured speaker Randy Walker, Clark County's di- rector of aviation. The Terminal 3 project has been Walker's baby, and he's proud of it. That day was also Walker's birthday, meaning he and the terminal — appropriately enough — will for- ever share a starting point. Walker pointed out that with Terminal 3, McCa- rran becomes the first airport to offer a city-specific welcome for its international arrivals. Acknowledg- ing the turbulence of the airline industry in recent years, he also touted the "operational flexibility" the new terminal offers. "One thing we know about this industry is that it "I think most people wanted the airport expansion to be something they didn't have to think about," he said. Airports are, in some ways, quite simple, Walker noted. They are essentially just conduits in the travel process, he said. I asked him to name something that would clearly illustrate the difference between McCarran's newer and older terminals. "Electrical outlets," Walker said. So many more are needed these days. Had DiDomizio been standing nearby, I'm guess- ing he'd have nodded in agreement. always changes," he said. "So we have to be flexible." After his remarks, Walker made time to put the project into practical terms for me. LEILA NAVIDI