Huatulco Travel

Patterson's company initially served a handful of visitors each week, but as Las Vegas has grown in popularity among Latino travelers, so has her business. These days, J&J services approximately 35,000 to 40,000 visitors each year, most from Mexico or Central and South America nations.

"I came to the right place at the right moment," Patterson said of her company's growth. "All of the flights, almost everybody came to us. … I was really lucky."

Patterson previously owned a travel agency in Mexico City that frequently sent customers to Southern Nevada. A family visit to Las Vegas during the New Year's Eve 1990 holiday inspired her to move from her native country a year later.

"Comparing this city with Mexico City, which is so big, I thought this was a place where I'd like to live," Patterson said of her adopted hometown. "There is the dynamic of the tourism industry here, but once you get off the Strip this is still a very nice, small town. Or at least it was in 1990," she joked.

In collaboration with OnVisa, J&J Tours' sister company in Mexico City, Patterson in 1992 began helping Mexican travelers make their way around Las Vegas. At the time, air service was limited to a handful of charter flights, but Patterson's arrival coincided with a growth period that today brings nearly 20 direct flights from Mexico to McCarran International Airport each week.

It's difficult to accurately track how many Mexicans visit Las Vegas each year because many travel here by automobile after entering the United States in Arizona or California. Based solely upon air passenger statistics, Mexico was this city's third-largest foreign market in 2002, according to the most current data available from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and U.S. Department of Commerce.

That year, an estimated 254,000 Mexicans flew to Las Vegas. Only Canada (1.05 million) and the United Kingdom (290,000) supplied more foreign visitors to this market.

To further improve business from south of the border, the convention authority last month opened its first foreign bureau in Mexico City. That office will be directed by Marco Aguilar, who has worked for more than two decades in travel and promotions-related industries including his current role on the Visit USA Committee-Mexico.

In announcing Aguilar's hiring, the convention authority reported that Mexico now sends 9.8 million visitors to U.S. destinations each year and is projected to post a 21 percent increase in U.S. visitation by 2006.

Inside the United States, the convention authority's contracted advertising agency, Las Vegas-based R&R Partners, last year debuted its first-ever marketing campaign aimed specifically at Spanish-speaking travelers. An R&R representative said last week those ads will again air this summer in several heavily Hispanic U.S. markets.

Regardless of how much the local Latino market grows, Patterson said she'll take pride knowing that her daughter, Jennifer, is also involved in the family business. The 24-year-old is today J&J Tours' manager, one of the many responsibilities she's gradually taken on since her first days at the office as a 12-year-old middle-school pupil.

"I've been in this for 30 years; I belong to the stone age," Patterson said. "She brings along knowledge of the younger generation, so it's a great combination."

Patterson's son Jasson -- whose first initial makes up the second half of the J&J name -- could also join the business someday, though mom said her 20-year-old son is now focused on his college studies.

"I frequently hear comments from people who say the feel like they've taken a trip all around the world," Patterson said. "From Luxor to The Venetian and all of our themed hotels, it's a totally different experience than what they're used to."