The Nevada Commission on Tourism is putting in practice a strategy never seen before in SinCity: persuade as many tourists as possible to leave the famous Las Vegas gambling spots and invest more time outdoors and outside the Strip. Their main goal is to increase the amount of tourists that visit national parks and other locations by creating a marketing campaign aimed to all the visitors who want to see a different side of Las Vegas. The Commission’s plan will try to encourage the 40 million people that come to Las Vegas every year to spend more time visiting lesser known spots in Nevada such as the Death Valley and Great Basin national parks and to go beyond the Las Vegas more common attractions and hotels.

"We've been working for years to break into the minds of the Las Vegas people. In the old days, there was this feeling we want to rake everybody into the casino and keep them there." said Chris Crystal, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Commission on Tourism.

The plan was recently discussed during the International Powwow, a travel industry convention held in Las Vegas that gathered hundreds of foreign journalists, tour operators and other business representatives. In addition, officials from the National Park Service and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority took part in a meeting to develop a plan to improve the marketing and customer service services as a way to increase the number of paying visitors that trip to national parks.

Cathy Tull, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority vice president of strategic planning, remarked the fact that National Parks Service in Nevada have to compete with the Las Vegas shows, hotels, golf courses and casinos for visitors' time and money. Tull also recognizes the potential of offering National Parks and Reservation tours as a way to expand the visitors’ options and help to increase the local economy.

During the Powwow Convention, Rossi Ralenkotter, the authority's president and CEO, said that selling the idea of presenting Las Vegas as a convenient center for visitors looking for a different experience won’t be hard thanks to the city’s proximity to 13 Western parks. Ralenkotter thinks that visitors who plan to visit Parks are likely to spend more money in Las Vegas, even if they don’t stay long.

"The Las Vegas casinos know that in the end, you are going to come back to your hotel at the end of the night. Almost everybody plugs a few bucks into a slot machine. It all adds up." said Chris Crystal.