Posted on 07/28/2025 9:41:02 AM PDT by DallasBiff
Las Vegas is experiencing a notable downturn in tourism, with hotel occupancy, visitor numbers and spending all slipping.
Industry data points to several key reasons behind the shift, including rising costs, fewer international travellers, and broader economic uncertainties.
Drop in international visitors and hotel occupancy
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, hotel occupancy dropped to just 66.7% in early July—a sharp fall from the previous year—and international visitors.
Domestic arrivals also fell by around 6.5%, and traffic through Harry Reid International Airport declined nearly 4% overall.
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In all of them the attendance is still below 2019, or pre-Covid levels. That wasn’t the plan.
Ironically being stereotyped as country
It’s the classic rock acme of the world
It still has country but mostly the new kind
Even Dre and Snoop opened a bar down there somewhere
I can drag wifey down there twice a year to watch music and the people
It’s fun even for locals don’t let anyone here pretend they are too cool to go downtown
Everyone does some even if they claim they only go to cool dive bars in east Nashville
I usually go there to go to concerts with a good friend who lives on the East Coast, it’s a good half-way meeting point. Saw Steve Hackett at the Ryman last year.
Last time I was in Vegas was around 2005. I was talking to the cabbie about when my parents used to go to Vegas in the late 60’s and how they talked about the cheap hotel and food prices. Fast forward to ‘05 and nothing was cheap.
The cab driver told me that the mobsters who ran Vegas in the 60’s and 70’s knew how to draw visitors with low prices so that they would gamble more. The next generation of mobsters got greedy and decided to soak visitors coming and going.
I saw Roger McGuinn and Aimee Mann Franklin theatre
We plan to see Billy Bobs band there soon
I’d like to see Clapton last time at Bridgestone soon
One of my boys does staging
He sees a lot up close
His buddy is running the stage set up Hank Jr kid Rock nickel back tour
My other sons get to be backstage
It’s fun and pays good
See the world and keep open for opportunity
Worlds largest stager started toting lights for Floyd at 17 late 60s
Now he’s worth 100m minimum
Saw ELO at Bridgestone too last year. What I like about Nashville is everything is centered there. The Bridgestone, The Ryman, the Country Hall Of Fame, Broadway, Printers Alley, etc.
Once Las Vegas was a special place. Now, not so much, Indian Casinos are all over. No great acts to see. No special things. They just rested on their memory. They must, and will, re-invent themselves. My advise for Vegas...
1. Increase police presence and get the homeless off the streets. 2. Get some new acts and special effects shows, like FX was. 3. Get some good cheap hotels with good cheap foods for families. 4. Put in a sort of Disneyland for kids—a theme park—special Patriotic—upbeat—Like Dollywood. 5. Get a new TV show filmed in Las Vegas—like Hawaii Five-O was to Hawaii. 6. Put in an upscale Brothel.
7. Lower the drinking and gambling age to 19. 8. Bring in A real Circus—like a revamped Ringling Brothers Barnum and Baily—a circus with animal acts—now banned in many states. 9. Put in a high speed train, a 400 MPH elevated train from LA to Las Vegas—a 30 minute ride. Futuristic and fun. 10. Put in a clothing optional resort and casino—lots of Europeans love to gamble naked.
The cab driver told me that the mobsters who ran Vegas in the 60’s and 70’s knew how to draw visitors with low prices so that they would gamble more. The next generation of mobsters got greedy and decided to soak visitors coming and going.
By the mid 1990s, you could argue that Vegas was an attraction in itself. Lots of really elaborate themed hotels (like the Luxor, Paris, NewYork, NewYork, Treasure Island, etc). So they tried to sell it more as a family (G-rated) destination and, to some degree, de-emphasize gambling. And prices started to creep up.
The cab driver told me that the mobsters who ran Vegas in the 60’s and 70’s knew how to draw visitors with low prices so that they would gamble more. The next generation of mobsters got greedy and decided to soak visitors coming and going.
By the mid 1990s, you could argue that Vegas was an attraction in itself. Lots of really elaborate themed hotels (like the Luxor, Paris, NewYork, NewYork, Treasure Island, etc). So they tried to sell it more as a family (G-rated) destination and, to some degree, de-emphasize gambling. And prices started to creep up.
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