The number of visitors
traveling to Las Vegas during the month of May
held strong at 3.4 million, regardless of the 15% decline in the gambling
profits suffered by most of the Las
Vegas casinos during the last semester. The disproportion
indicates that visitors continue to travel to Las Vegas; however, the numbers reflect that
most visitors are just spending less money in gambling and other activities.
Also, the numbers show that visitors are staying shorter in Las Vegas. The report released last week, confirms
an increase of 15,000 visitors compared to 2007, showing a growth of about 1%.
It also showed a 6.4% reduction in the amount of traffic heading to Las Vegas and a 4.7 % diminution in the amount of people traveling
to Las Vegas by
air.
"Instead of staying
for three days, they will stay for two days. There are deals across the board.
It just depends on what you are looking to do." declared Alan Feldman,
spokesman for MGM Mirage, owner and operator of 10 Las Vegas
hotels.
Feldman expressed that MGM is
expanding the options available for customers as part of their marketing
strategy and as an incentive to increase the people’s interest in special
services such as limousine transportation, coupons, discounts in several golf resorts
and gas cards for visitors who want to rent a car or that come to Las Vegas driving their
own vehicles.
The results are visible and
most hotels are keeping rooms full, still, this strategy also has also brought
larger costs due the constant discounts and extras, a situation that is brutally reducing the hotels’ profits. A
research made a couple of weeks ago revealed that room prices in Las Vegas have
reached the lowest rates in five years, rooms at the classy Wynn Las Vegas and
the Venetian Resort and Casino are under $200, nightly rates at the Rio and Hard Rock Hotel are under $100 and rates at the Palace Station are under $20 per person.
The Las Vegas visitors’ authority reported that
room rates were down 5.5% in May to $135 per night in what is the fifth consecutive
month of declining rates. But even when the Las Vegas still an attractive
location for millions of people around the world, the stock market is severely punishing
some of the Las Vegas resorts and business and some shares such as Las Vegas
Sands Corp., MGM Mirage and Boyd Gaming Corp. are falling down and their stocks
are positioned at a fraction of the price they were about a year ago. MGM is
down almost 73% this year, Las Vegas Sands down 67% and Boyd Gaming is down 73%
compared to last year.
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