Tourism director explores more online outreach
Tourism director explores more online outreachBy GEOFF DORNAN gdornan@nevadaappeal.com Dann Lewis admits he picked an interesting time to become Nevada's tourism director. The state is deep in a recession with gaming revenue weak and vacation travel down sharply. As a result, the tourism commission, funded by a share of room tax collections, has seen its budget drop nearly 50 percent from its peak several years ago."It's a good challenge," he said.Lewis said things were different two or three years ago."Today, it's a little frightening."He said this is the first recession that has really affected leisure travel.With revenues falling, tourism was hit hard by budget cuts that Lewis said forced layoffs of nearly a quarter of the tourism office staff before he arrived here in May."There's no question there are going to be some more rough years before things can be expected to be on a firm upward path," he said.Lewis says he hopes to take tourism in new directions. And he has the credentials and experience to do just that. H