Show time LAS VEGAS
UK visitors, attracted by an unbeatable line-up of quality hotels, entertainment options galore, some of the best restaurants in the country and a great climate, are helping Las Vegas weather the worst of the recession, says Steve Hartridge
UK visitors, attracted by an unbeatable line- up of quality hotels, entertainment options galore, some of the best restaurants in the country and a great climate are helping Las Vegas weather the worst of the recession, says Steve Hartridge
T
he famous neon lights that frame both sides of The Strip are flashing their garish messages as seductively as ever, but these are
not the brightest of times for Las Vegas. Like Dubai, another desert city that assumed its growth and popularity would be exponential, the precarious global economy has done Sin City few favours: even hedonists look to reign themselves in when their jobs and mortgages are firmly on the line. Global visitor numbers to the Nevada
city that is the self-billed adult entertainment centre of the world have been ebbing away since 2007, and prestige hotel projects have been abandoned, most visibly The Fontainbleau, a reputed $4.6 million project that was scrapped in late 2009
TOP SELLING TIPS Boost commission by
pre-booking helicopter trips to the Grand Canyon, or even just a short helicopter flip over the city to see the lights from a different angle!
Las Vegas is not for
kids! Entertainment and dining options in hotels are very limited for toddlers and juniors
despite being just months from opening. But Las Vegas’ much-touted ‘problems’ deserve a proper context: the city has over 149,000 hotel rooms – the most of any US destination – to fill each night, including around 16,000 that have been added in the past two years. This compares to, for example,
Cancun, Mexico, where the number is a relatively paltry 42,000. And what destination wouldn’t covet
the 36,351,000 people that visited Las Vegas in 2009, and hotel occupancy of around 85.3 per cent (the US national average is just 55 per cent)? In January, visitors increased by 3.7 per
cent over the same month in 2010 and, with the domestic market at best
Suggest a show for extra commission earnings
www.sellinglonghaul.com • March 2011 47
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