LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Las Vegas is a tourist town.

Finding ways to get those tourists in is the engine that drives our biggest economy.

The No. 1 money maker is getting international visitors to Las Vegas as quickly as possible, so news that a new flight, direct from Brazil, was celebrated by many. Last month, international arrivals were nearly 324,000 fliers, up 5.2 percent from June of 2017.

But getting that flight to touch down every day isn't that easy.

Customs staffing is becoming a big hurdle.

As Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus explains, there's a real problem getting Border Patrol agents to work the early morning hours the flight requires.

"Right now our big challenge is international travel," Titus told News 3 on Sunday. "That’s our growth market and when they come they stay longer and spend more but there are some problems."

That's where federal lawmakers are getting involved.

Republican Sen. Dean Heller sent a letter this past week to Commissioner Kevin McAleenan urging the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to immediately address a staffing shortage at McCarran International Airport that threatens Nevada's tourism economy and 500 local jobs. U.S. Sen. Cortez Masto (D-NV) and U.S. Reps. Titus, Ruben J. Kihuen (D-NV), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) signed the letter.

It's a chicken and egg scenario. Without the agents you can't have the flight, but without enough flights you can't justify spending the money on the agents.

Titus says a temporary measure to keep the agents at theirposts through the rest of the year could keep flights running.

"We don’t see it as an expenditure, we see it as an investment. Its bipartisan, the whole delegation is on board because we know how important tourism is to the economy of Nevada," she said.

Part of the letter Heller wrote:

"Currently, a LATAM flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil, is flying into McCarran three times per week. While this flight lands outside of CBP standard working hours, a temporary agreement was arranged between the airport authority and the agency to provide a limited amount of CBP overtime hours to allow inspectors to process visitors from that flight. The overwhelming success of the LATAM flight led to the airline moving to add a winter service from mid-December through February and express interest in a year-round service. Unfortunately, CBP officials at McCarran have indicated that they will not provide the staffing necessary to clear this early-morning flight.
"Without CBP's immediate assistance, LATAM will cancel and move this flight. The cost to the Las Vegas economy would be instantaneous -- $15 million in economic development and up to 100 jobs. The loss of year-round LATAM service would likely cost the region $70 million and nearly 500 jobs. Making matters worse, additional carriers from Asia, Australia, and South America are also interested in scheduling new flights to Las Vegas with early morning arrival times," the members of the Nevada delegation wrote. "Without a solution to the near-term problem, this growth will be stifled and the associated economic loses will be dramatically compounded. We request that CBP work with local airport and tourism officials to resolve this matter as soon as possible."
LATAM handled 3,906 fliers to Las Vegas in its first month of three-times-a-week flights."

McCarran officials have declined comment to News 3, saying negotiations are ongoing.

The airport is on track to handle 49 million passengers this year, and flights from Central and South America are showing increased passenger loads.