The tenth annual Las Vegas Tourism Security and Safety Conference was not only the most impressive of these conferences, but it served to celebrate the conference's ยฎrst major milestone, its tenth anniversary. Numerous delegates viewed this conference as symbolic of a major paradigm shift within the industry. Ten years ago, tourism security specialists were shunned, and security issues were classiยฎed as things about which one spoke almost in silence. Ten years later the industry has come to understand that it cannot survive without a safe and secure environment and that its security professionals are a vital part of the overall industry's success. Much of this paradigmatic shift may be due to the publicity and networking opportunities provided by the Las Vegas Tourism Security and Safety Conferences.
As is the conference's tradition, all sessions are held as plenary sessions with a daily summary given by Peter Tarlow. This year's theme was protecting the international market and as such a great deal of emphasis was placed on involving speakers from different nations. The motivation for this theme was the 2002 Olympic Games to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Delegates came from North America and Asia. As is the conference's tradition all speakers are active practitioners in the ยฎeld of tourism security.