‘Content creator Olympics’: How Vegas hired influencer interns to attract Gen Z
- Last updated: August 9, 2026 | 09:31
Tori Kay propped her phone up on a table at Arte Museum and got to work on her latest creative endeavor: a pink and purple zebra.
Kay set up the camera and hit record before adding colour to the final stripes. She took her completed piece to a scanner and filmed as her zebra appeared on the walls of the immersive art exhibit, prancing around with other hand-drawn, animated animals.
Though drawing with crayons during a July visit to the experience on the Las Vegas Strip, Kay was actually working as an intern with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
“I keep calling it the content creator Olympics — the content creator boot camp,” Kay said. “My whole Google calendar is mapped out with the outfit I want to wear, where I need to be and the tags.”
Five aspiring content creators, including Kay, received $25,000 each for a 10-day internship with the LVCVA. Rather than sorting mail and grabbing coffees for minimum wage, this internship, titled the “Summer Intern House,” consisted of clubbing, fine dining, sports car racing and helicopter rides over the city.
“We want to reach Gen Z where they already are, and we know content that doesn’t feel like an ad performs,” said Michael O’Brien, vice president of digital and content marketing for LVCVA. “We get a high volume of content that’s as authentic as it gets, straight from the creators, and they get an experience they couldn’t put together on their own.”
After making her way through the rest of the exhibits, Kay sat down at the museum cafe and began editing her footage for Instagram and TikTok, turning it into one of the 92 videos she made during the programme.
Visiting the Arte Museum was one of about 50 excursions the LVCVA planned for the interns. Over the course of the ten-day program that ended Aug. 1, interns posted two videos for each activity — typically averaging ten posts a day. Each experience was paid for either by the LVCVA, whose revenue comes primarily from room taxes paid by visitors to Southern Nevada, or was compensated by the individual businesses.
“There’s a lot more to do in Vegas than you think,” said Kay. “People think that you come to Vegas just to do the nightlife, but most of our experiences and excursions have been during the day.”
Though titled “Summer Intern House,” there is no actual house. Instead the interns stayed at different hotels, including the Vanderpump Hotel, The Cosmopolitan and The Venetian.
This program is the first of its kind for the LVCVA. Its introduction comes after a substantial decline in the city’s tourism last year. Visitation dipped by 7.6 percent in 2025, or 3 million fewer visitors than in 2024. Despite this decline, tourism remains the main driver of Southern Nevada’s economy with $50.8 billion in visitor spending.
Las Vegas is not the only city using influencer programs to promote tourism. In April 2025, the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism launched a 12-week paid program for aspiring content creators called the “Beautiful Destinations Academy.” Visit Myrtle Beach also ran a similar program that paid eight content creators for a month-long residency titled “Matador House: Creators in Residency Myrtle Beach.”
LVCVA announced the “Summer Intern House” in May. Candidates ages 21 to 29 applied by posting a video to social media answering the prompt: “Why should you be our summer intern?” After reviewing applications, the LVCVA then opened up a public vote and let their social media audience decide on the finalists.
“You’re learning so much. You’re moving so fast,” Kay said. “It’s very quick pace, but it’s all things you love doing.”
Tribune News Service