Las Vegas has lots of challenges on the horizon. At least that's what the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority thinks. With the infrastructure of Southern Nevada struggling to keep up with the growth that Las Vegas is going through right now, an economic hardship could very well be in the near future.

By 2010, Southern Nevada will have an additional 40,000 new hotel rooms on top of the current 130,000 hotel rooms needing to be filled by out-of-town visitors. And in order to keep up the impressive 90% occupancy rate, which is 26% higher than the rest of the U.S., Las Vegas is going to do some serious marketing brainstorming.

That's what the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is poised to do. The creators of the enormously successful slogan "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas", the LVCVA is confident they can meet the economic challenge down the road despite the task at hand. President and CEO of the Authority, Rossi Ralenkotter, said during a recent presentation that Las Vegas is being faced with a new set of challenges. He said now is not the time to sit back and watch.

Considering that foreign visitation to the U.S. has dropped nearly 17% since the 9/11 attack, attracting foreign visitors will be a major focus of the LVCVA. The current plan is to bring in 43 million visitors annually by the end of 2010 (11% higher than last years totals), with 15% of these visitors coming from foreign countries.

With current construction boom set to increase room inventory by 31% and tradeshow exhibition space by 35%, the LVCVA will need to attract more than foreign visitors. Although specific plans have not been laid out as of yet, the Authority wants to cater more to gay and lesbians, as well as ethnic minorities. And in order to attract more business travelers, the Authority is going to increase the amount of smaller scale conventions and business meeting opportunities.