Question of the Day - 21 February 2025

Yes, there were plenty of free tourist magazines for many years. 

Among the "ad rags" that have bitten the dust are ShowBiz Weekly, What’s On, 24/7, Today in Las Vegas, Vegas Visitor, Best Read Guide, and Fabulous Las Vegas. Add to that list the free alternative weeklies mags like Las Vegas City Life and The Mercury.

ShowBiz Weekly was resurrected in the form of Las Vegas Magazine (2006-present), while Vegas Visitor was spared by dint of being purchased by the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, but it's only available digitally.

For more detail, we turned to former Where Las Vegas editor Jennifer Prosser, who told us …

“Due to a restructuring of our parent company in 2018, many of the Where-brand magazines, including those in the Las Vegas market, were franchised. Whether or not these magazines succeeded depended on the publishing group that took them over. While some have thrived, I don't believe that Las Vegas was one of those markets. This saddens me, as I spent 11 years working on those publications.

“I believe over-saturation may also have been an issue. When I worked in Vegas, competition for tourists’ eyes was fierce. It was a constant battle to set our racks for distribution and get magazines into people's hands. At times, every member of our team went into the hotel-casinos and personally handed out our coupon books to people. I also left them at slot machines and at the entrance to buffets—places where people congregated. It seemed to work in the short term, but I don't know that it was effective long-term.”

Los Angeles Times correspondent Heather Turk takes up the story.

“Each magazine obviously has its own story. One I worked for was sold and the new owners ended up being crooks who ran the company into the ground.

"In a nutshell, two shared factors led to the downfall of tourist magazines in general. The first, COVID. Early on, several magazines I wrote/edited for were pulled from hotel rooms and airplanes, because they didn't want another shared surface for germs to spread. During this time, more online ‘influencers’ popped up and most places just didn't feel like reinvesting in print publications when the COVID mandates were dropped.

“The second and big one: money. While most places in town were always excited for the coverage, when it came to businesses buying ads to help support the publications, most places just didn't want to do it. Magazines need ads to help pay for printing/paper costs, not to mention employees who have a college degrees and are skilled editors/writers versus just doing it for a comp or exposure. Without places advertising, they couldn’t even break even, let alone make a profit. 

“One of the big-name publications I wrote for published only when they had enough ads each issue to turn a profit. After a couple of failed attempts, it just stopped publishing altogether. 

“Obviously there have been some other factors as well, but in general, I would say those were the two biggest factors that led to many tourist magazines closing. It’s sad, because I still get inquiries all the time asking about certain places I used to work. It’s unfortunate that people didn't see the value of the publications when they were around and now miss them/the opportunities they presented in hindsight.”

Las Vegas Magazine veteran Carla Zvosec weighs in with some additional color. “When I worked at LVM, it was in 98 percent of Las Vegas hotel rooms. I don't know if it's now available at any hotel desks; the hotels generally like to have the smaller pocket-sized books, because they take up less room and contain more listing information.

On a positive note, Zvosec adds, “Existing tourist guides are currently available at many hotel registration desks, bell desks, in stands on casino floors, and taxi cabs.” These include Vegas2Go and Vegas Vibe, both offspring of Greenspun Media Group, publisher of the only free weekly still standing, Las Vegas Weekly. “A few years ago, Vegas2Go changed its format and organized all of its listings by property, which some might find helpful if they want to target a particular area of the Strip to explore,” Zvosec notes.

“I know Vegas Vibe used to be in the Las Vegas taxi cabs,” she continues "and it wasn't available in stands on casino floors (that may have changed). Vegas2Go was available and I believe still is at the hotel desks and on the casino floors of some properties.

Many of the printed mags went digital, so websites are another source for Vegas entertainment info: Vegas.com, Vegas Spotlight, Visit Las Vegas, LasVegas.com, Lavish Vegas, Las Vegas Entertainment Guide, and My Guide Las Vegas, to name a few ...

… and, of course, the Las Vegas Advisor.