Las Vegas
With plenty to offer whatever the hour and constantly adding new reasons to visit, Las Vegas is a city that simply doesn’t believe in standing still – and that’s proving a winning combination for UK visitors, says Steve Hartridge
that certainly doesn’t struggle to live up to its own hype. For once this is a destination that is
FUN CITY L
as Vegas is – anyone who has been there would surely agree – a full-on round-the-clock city
at the roller-coaster that rattles and rolls around the top of the New York- New York Hotel, and blink at the caged lions that prowl, enclosed, in the middle of the MGM Grand. However, now they can also stay in the
truly like nowhere else on earth, but the secret of the Nevada desert city’s continuing appeal during these tough economic times is not its bright flashing lights or the kerching, kerching made by its slot machines, but its ability to continually refresh its appeal to visitors. Whether it is cutting-edge hotels that
have pushed the luxury bar ever higher, new attractions that offer an alternative way to spend an afternoon away from the darkened windows of the casinos or the arrival of celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck and Michael Mina to oversee some of the best restaurants in the country, Las Vegas is on the move. Most visitors will still stroll The Strip, stopping by the water and light show at the Bellagio Fountains, pausing to gawp
funky Cosmopolitan Hotel – enjoying views of the flashing lights from one of the few hotels in the city with rooms that have balconies – visit a new museum dedicated to telling the story of Las Vegas’ criminal past and solve a crime by studying forensic ‘evidence’ at the CSI Experience, also in the MGM. Or for something completely different, but definitely ‘Vegas’, visitors can now shoot a variety of firearms – from modern machine guns and assault rifles such as those used by the US Navy SEAL Team during their raid of Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan to hand pistols used in World War II – at Machine Guns Vegas, close to The Strip.
More established reasons for a visit include the most diverse line-up of evening shows of any US cities – Cirque du Soleil shows alone interpret the life of Elvis Presley (Viva Elvis), the music of the Beatles (Love) and ‘expressions of sensuality through dance and gymnastics' (Zumanity) – great shopping in the form of huge malls, designer stores and discount outlets and a long list of day-trip excursions that includes tours of the Hoover Dam, helicopter flights over the Grand Canyon and bus tours to Zion Valley and Bryce Canyon. This fabulous line-up of attractions is seemingly proving, even in tough economic times, irresistible to both first-time and repeat visitors:
38.9 million visitors dropped by in 2011, the second highest visitor total ever, says the The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). And Las Vegas attracted 4.3% more visitors last year than in 2010 and
maintained a city-wide occupancy rate of nearly 84% for the year, with the average nightly room rate pushing up to $105 – impressive for a city with an inventory of around 150,000 hotel rooms. “The numbers reflect… the
commitment of our resort partners to invest in their properties to ensure Las Vegas remains the premier travel destination in the world," said Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the LVCVA.
With direct flights out of the UK operated by both British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, UK visitors
32 March 2012 •
www.sellinglonghaul.com
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