hmmm......
I hope the council has sought advice from a couple of the airlines before they spend the money.
Airlines pay a lot of attention to how many travel to where (with some very good software to capture the data) and it is interesting to note that no airline has publicly pushed for adequate trans tasman facilities at Vegas before now. With its comprehensive domestic network, no one would know better than AirNZ what the likely Tasman market would be out of Vegas.
Perhaps while the Hamilton destination only appealed locals outbound (and the traditional home of SJ), the Vegas option atleast has a bit more going for it with the inbound market.
My last impression of the tourist market in Vegas was the vast number of Asians in tour busses. And a trans Tasman connection is of little value to them.