The net-net is I'd rather go somewhere else next time.
The common response is to point out that, current political environment aside, it's because Vegas has become far more expensive in recent years.
In other words, they've decided to start targeting more wealthy customers.
So it doesn't matter if visitor numbers have dropped (not to the people running Vegas anyway). It only matters if profits have dropped. And I haven't seen any reports on this so far. Maybe profits are growing or stable?
I just checked hotel prices and it does look damn cheap compared to anywhere in Europe. But I guess that's not what makes it expensive
I went for a niche conference a few weeks ago which was held at a lower-end 'budget' casino hotel off the strip and the actual room price per night was more than 2.5 times the relatively reasonable-seeming room rate I booked under due to resort fees, taxes and other bullshit.
Large corporate casino owners who can still benefit by making up the shortfall in visitors from high rollers who spend (and lose) bigger chunks of money gambling aren't the bulk of the overall Vegas tourist economy - which is mostly employees, suppliers and service providers whose income is driven more by "number of visitors" than "spend per visitor".
And it matters to the visitors who can't afford to go there anymore.
Gambling? We've been able to do that via our phones since the mid 2010s.
Collect an interesting variety on venereal diseases? Same, smartphone compatible for a decade or more.
Celebrity fronted restaurants? Mr Ramsey will ship his slop directly to my door in 48 hours or less.
If forced to travel to the USA a team of marketing grads haven't made it clear to me why i should go to Vegas.
blinded•3h ago