Super Bowl First: U.S Tourism Officials to Advertise Internationally

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, February 27. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel.

Hotel guests in Las Vegas during Super Bowl 2024 paid the highest room rates in continental U.S. history, according to an analysis by CoStar’s STR.

Most tourism board CEOs come from the hotel or tourism industry. But Tourism Ireland’s new chief executive, Alice Mansergh, came from Google’s marketing side. 

So you want to go to the Super Bowl this weekend. Even for non-football fans, this year’s spectacle of professional sports and over-the-top entertainment — in Las Vegas, no less — could be hard to resist.

This past weekend’s Super Bowl LVIII was a star-studded event which attracted guests from around the world with as many as 1000 private jets arriving in Las Vegas. From Beyoncé to Lady Gaga to Justin Bieber, everyone wanted to see the Chiefs play the 49ers, and, of course, witness Usher’s mesmerizing halftime performance. People planning to attend huge sports and social events like the Super Bowl via private plane can face a unique, high net-worth problem — no inventory left unless you’ve booked far in advance. That’s where Wheels Up’s new partnership with Delta offers its members an alternative; flying commercial in first class with additional exclusive perks. Alternatively, members who fly commercial most of the time may charter a private plane for short and medium range flights to smaller airports or for a special occasion. The partnership offers flexibility and ensures that members won’t have to miss out on popular sports and social events with several options to choose from.

The Super Bowl helped MGM Resorts post three of the top five days in revenue it has ever recorded at hotels on the Las Vegas Strip, executives said Tuesday.

This is how powerful Taylor Swift is. She has bumped the blown door on the Alaska Airlines flight right off the front pages of the newspapers and the lead story on the news TV stations as well.

With Super Bowl LVIII in the books, the countdown has started for travelers to book their trip to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX in 2025.The Big Easy is one of the most prolific Super Bowl hosts ever as it will tie Miami with 11 games hosted next year. Meanwhile, the Caesars Superdome will host its record eighth Super Bowl on February 9, 2025.New Orleans last hosted the Big Game in 2013. According to New Orleans & Company, Super Bowl XLVII's showdown between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers brought an estimated $480 million in economic impact to the city, the state of Louisiana and surrounding areas. In 2025, the city anticipates that number to be well over $500 million.The influx of visitors for the championship matchup is expected to provide a jolt to small businesses across the city and region, benefitting hotels, restaurants, cultural attractions, bars, venues, shops and transportation providers, among other businesses.Airlines are already gearing up for next year's Super Bowl, with United Airlines running a special Big Game marketing campaign encouraging travelers to book their flight to New Orleans right away to take advantage of its popular no-change fee policy.

The Bahamas saw a January slowdown in short-term rental bookings — and, to a lesser extent, hotel reservations — following news reports about an uptick in murders and a U.S. State Department alert to travelers.

While each Super Bowl is unique, some things never change. And in this case, it means that the Kansas City Chiefs are again Super Bowl champions and quarterback Patrick Mahomes is again going to Disneyland.

Last June, a segment on FOX 5 Vegas calling for Super Bowl LVIII volunteers caught my attention.

Las Vegas, the venue for Super Bowl LVIII, could be a synonym for the private jet business entering 2024. After all, you arrive with high hopes and some money in your pocket. You leave a winner or loser, and sometimes with a hangover, regardless of how much cash is left in your bank account.