The “biggest little city in the world” is looking to get a little bigger, both in terms of population and visitors. The Northern Nevada hotspot of Reno is doing so by diversifying its offerings to appeal to more than mere gamblers.
“‘Diversification’ is the best way to describe the continued resurgence of tourism and hospitality in the Reno-Tahoe market,” said Fred Steinmann, director of the University Center for Economic Development at the College of Business for the University of Nevada, Reno. “Special events, outdoor recreation, as well as continued investment in the traditional gaming-hotel aspect of the area’s tourism and hospitality sector is creating a very diverse set of attractions.”
It's also creating motivation for reinvention.
Reno, Reinvented
Northern Nevada has come a long way over the past 25 years.
“If one begins to take into account the broader outdoor recreation and special event space, the Reno-Tahoe market…continues to experience a resurgence from the dark days of the late 1990s and early 2000s through the Great Recession,” Steinmann explains. “The accelerated population growth of the region and the rapid recovery of the region’s economic base is proof that this strategy of diversification, combining outdoor recreation with advanced manufacturing, has been a success.”
The area has invested tens of millions of dollars in outdoor recreation areas, which included adopting the Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Master Plan late last year. This plan will enhance existing outdoor amenities, as well as new activations surrounding the Reno Truckee River corridor and downtown public spaces. The city has also fostered an employment sector that focuses on lithium batteries, critical elements and other electric vehicle materials. This has brought companies like Panasonic and Tesla’s Gigafactory—one of the largest lithium-ion battery factories in the world—to the region.
It has also led others—namely, hotel investors—to follow suit as the area collectively ushers in a new era.
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