Tourism fuels Southern Nevada’s economic engine. Some recent news suggests it won’t be sputtering out any time soon.
Last year, a number of social media posts about high prices in Las Vegas went viral. The posters weren’t upset about gambling losses. They were annoyed about having to pay for hotel parking, check-in fees and $26 bottles of water in the mini-bar. As it turns out, spending money on entertainment is fun. Spending money to get to the place where you want to spend money on entertainment isn’t.
The numbers showed it. Visitation didn’t tank, but it did fall month after agonizing month. Some casinos reduced their workforces. Servers complained their tips were down dramatically. Despite these negative signs, gaming win remained strong.
If casino resorts were government agencies, they might have demanded more funding and new attendance requirements. But because they are private businesses, they must earn customers’ business. Because the customers weren’t happy, they tried new strategies to please them. These negative indicators led to a new advertising campaign and new travel deals.
There’s evidence that the effort is paying off. Barry Jonas, an analyst with Atlanta-based Truist Securities, recently published a survey of almost 800 travelers.
“With news in the past quarter that operators were trying more bundled or all-inclusive pricing, we asked about how appealing the concept of that was,” Mr. Jonas said. “Responses were overwhelmingly positive, with 88 percent stating it would be appealing (53 percent ‘Very’ and 35 percent ‘Somewhat’) with 9 percent neutral and just 3 percent negative.”
This provides an example of why it’s important for the government to avoid market manipulations. It is unpleasant to learn that customers are upset, but in a free market, companies have a strong incentive to innovate and make things better. This temporary pain creates the impetus that leads to a strong future. That appears to have happened here.
“Interestingly, 65 percent of respondents’ perceptions of Vegas have improved (38 percent ‘Much better’ and 26 percent ‘Slightly better’),” the report stated.
In all, 56 percent of respondents believed Las Vegas still offers good value for the price. Another 37 percent said they thought rising prices were eroding value. That’s an encouraging finding.
April’s tourism numbers were a bit mixed. Gaming win was up almost 5 percent in Clark County. Overall visitation fell by 1.8 percent, however. Air passenger traffic dropped by 7.1 percent. The abrupt closure of Spirit Airlines may hurt these numbers in May. Vehicle traffic from California remains strong. It actually increased 2.9 percent. That’s especially impressive when you think about how much gas costs in California.
Las Vegas casino resorts appear to have identified the types of deals customers want. That’s a fabulous sign for the future.
