Question of the Day - 20 April 2019

Tourism is alive and well in Las Vegas. The visitor count is up slightly for the year. Hundreds of other destinations around the world would be ecstatic with 42 million-plus tourists arriving every year. 

As for locals on the Strip, we'd have to say that the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority -- and by extension, the Strip -- is as unconcerned with you as you are with them.

As its name states, the LVCVA's focus is on tourism and locals don’t fit into that cubbyhole. Besides, like Las Vegas in general, the Strip is doing very well without much local business.

In 2016, Las Vegas drew 42.9 million visitors, who left behind $6.3 billion in gambling losses and generated $112 per night in hotel-room revenue. In 2017 the visitor count dropped slightly, with "only" 42.2 million visitors, but gambling revenue was up to $6.4 billion and room revenues nudged upwards to $123 per night. Last year, visitation slipped a little further to 42.1 million tourists; still, fewer tourists gambled away $10.25 billion (close to the record levels of 2006 and ’07). Room revenues per night reached $124.

So Vegas is sitting quite comfortably, by most economic standards. 

Which is why, to return to your question, the plan is to keep doing what they're doing. Why would it change?

From a Strip operator’s point of view, there's no problem. People are coming in such large numbers that casino operators can call the tune: resort fees, paid parking, restaurant CNFs (concession and franchise fees), 6-5 blackjack, triple-zero roulette, strictly managed drink comps, room comps costing $40 for the resort fee, a total lack of coupons and discounts, and not a single loss leader in sight. The Las Vegas Strip casinos have their two bulldogs, Rip and Tear, working overtime and and we predict it's going to continue at least through 2020 and into 2021 when all kinds of new attractions do show up on the scene. 

What's more, the locals-casino industry has become such a strong business unto itself that the non-Strip player can stay away from Las Vegas Boulevard and not feel that they’re missing anything (except perhaps live entertainment). Companies like Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming, and Golden Gaming have made a nice business for themselves by providing most of the amenities that locals expect. 

And don't forget downtown, which continues to offer better deals than the Strip and we can only hope that the debut of Circa in late 2020 isn't the opening salvo of the Stripification of Fremont Street.

We wish we had better news to offer, but the fabulous Las Vegas Strip left the local customer behind long ago and is unlikely to change its focus -- unless we have a repeat of the Great Recession and we wouldn’t wish that on anyone.