[jfkIII]

Agreed...Las Vegas is THE top gambling destination and vacation spot.

[Tires]

Originally Posted by tony soprano

This seems like a reasonable thread to drop this in.

U.S. Says Las Vegas Is Preferred Casino Destination: Atlantic City Places Third

Of course "casino destination" caveat.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by Tires

Of course "casino destination" caveat.

This is a simple equation. People vote by passing through the portal.

On raw numbers Orlando does a little better. On yield per head LV knocks them dead.

The strip is a mighty machine and will not be equalled in our time.

And it likely has very long legs...

And a whole lot less pollution than a steel mill.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by olecapt

This is a simple equation. People vote by passing through the portal.

On raw numbers Orlando does a little better. On yield per head LV knocks them dead.

The strip is a mighty machine and will not be equaled in our time.

And it likely has very long legs...

And a whole lot less pollution than a steel mill.

Orlando shows about 10 million more visitors per year than Las Vegas. I don't suppose it matters, but interesting to note that over half the visitors to Orlando come from Florida. Got to wonder if those numbers are padded though.

I heard Harry Baby, or some other politician the other day, say what percentage of foreign visitors to the U.S. came to Las Vegas. It seemed larger than this when I heard it, but thinking back, I think it was 10%. But in 2010 about 18% of our total were foreigners.

Here's a couple of sites showing the stats for 2010. I was surprised to see that only 30% come from California. I always thought it was much higher than that. Maybe it once was.

Fewer Vegas visitors gambled in '10, spent less - Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fewer-Vegas-visitors-gambled-apf-3816074117.html?x=0&.v=1 - broken link)

Slow Economy Affects Number Of Gamblers In Vegas « Las Vegas VIP | Las Vegas Nightclubs – Las Vegas Bachelor Party

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by BBMW

Where Vegas is losing is the for the asian whales. The can now play in Macao or Singapore, and don't have to fly 18 hours to get to Vegas. Vegas is still the preemininet North American (non-family) vacation destination, for whatever that's worth.

Here's an interesting article from the Las Vegas Sun, from March, about the efforts to lure more of the Aisian market to Las Vegas, plus some other interesting facts.

Study to help determine how best to market to Chinese - Las Vegas Sun

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by Tires

Of course "casino destination" caveat.

What is your point? Las Vegas is the third leading destination ...period. Most people know there are other attractions here. too.

Top 10 most popular U.S. destinations for 2011

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by tony soprano

No doubt, there are some rough areas in The Big Easy.

Buzz, did you spend any time on Bourbon Street? Have you had any red beans & rice with andouille sausage?

Walked all over the Quarter. We prefer Royal St. and Decatur St. to Bourbon St. Have been to Nawlins many times, but this time we learned from the locals that they prefer Frenchmen St., so we went there for dinner the last night. And I did have red beans and rice with breaded pork chops.

Had some fantastic red fish, and micro brewed beer at Crescent City Brewhouse one evening. Crescent City Brewhouse - New Orleans French Quarter Microbrewery

And we had breakfast at Mother's on Poydras one morning. Best restaurant in New Orleans, and they've finally expanded it after about 50 or 60 years of being so popular. My wife had Jambalaya for breakfast that day.

Mother's Restaurant - New Orleans - World' Best Baked Ham - 401 Poydras, New Orleans, LA 70130 Tel: 504-523-9656

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by jhiker1o

Just had dinner at the newly opened PBR Rock Bar at the Planet Hollywood. Nice restaurant, not your typical country restaurant. The restaurant can rival some of the nicest lounges and clubs in Vegas. It has an outdoor restaurant and bar seating with a nice view of the Cosmopolitan. The price is definitely reasonable but the menu is limited which is fine with me.

The Monte Carlo is adding another bar/lounge toward the main entrance on Las Vegas Blvd. definitely gearing up for more of the party crowd. Las Vegas is the top destination this coming Labor Day weekend, it looks like the bar/lounge should be open by Labor Day.

As long as the resorts keep giving something new to the visitors it'll encourage more to visit Vegas ??? and and eventually ??? become repeat visitors.

I've been wondering how long you've been in Las Vegas? Many of your posts sound like you know the town well, and even I have learned about a few fun things to do in this town from you. But I wonder if you, and others reading this forum, are aware that Las Vegas has been marketing itself as a tourist destination for nearly 80 years ─ since gambling was made legal in the 1930's?

The story goes that, being the old west, gambling went on in bars and saloons whether the state liked it or not. So in the early 1930's, the state legislature, knowing they couldn't stop it, decided the State might as well make it legal so they could tax and regulate it; something other states are just now admitting to. Up to about that time the towns in Nevada, including, Las Vegas (maybe especially Las Vegas), were too isolated for anybody to do much about the gamblers. I don't think there were many paved roads in the State of Nevada back then.

As soon as gambling was legalized, the first resorts started to appear in places other than Lake Tahoe; mostly in Reno though. But even then, both Reno and Las Vegas began the process of constantly renewing everything to "encourage more to visit", and to "attract repeat visitors".

I think it would be a good bet that probably more than half of our visitors over the past 80 years have been "repeat" visitors. And I don't think there is a soul in anyplace on this planet that doesn't know about, and want to visit, Las Vegas. It's just a matter of giving them a shove in this direction. In my opinion, and from my experience in the advertising business, Las Vegas marketing and advertising people give Madison Avenue a run for it's money.

[fionababes]

The appeal isn't gone in my eyes, I came last May and was £740 p/p for flights and hotel, were looking to come in November this year and can't find anything for less than £1100 p/p. Maybe need to leave it til summer 2012. I have the same desire to come but its just very expensive plus the 16hr flight is draining!

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

I think it would be a good bet that probably more than half of our visitors over the past 80 years have been "repeat" visitors. And I don't think there is a soul in anyplace on this planet that doesn't know about, and want to visit, Las Vegas. It's just a matter of giving them a shove in this direction. In my opinion, and from my experience in the advertising business, Las Vegas marketing and advertising people give Madison Avenue a run for it's money.

In 1963. stationed in a 'smallish" town in NE France....we went to the open market in the City of Nancy.

We stopped at a spice shop run by two guys from French Equatorial Africa. They spoke not ONE single word of English. My French was only fair....They asked where we were from....I replied Colorado.....and got a blank stare. they had never heard of it....My wife said St Louis Missouri....another blank stare.... finally, in desperation to keep the oconversation going I said LAS VEGAS?

their eyes both opened wide and I saw the brightest, whitest grin I had ever seen and both guys said LAS VEGASSSS.....

We are, arguably, one of the two or three best known cities in the world.