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Las Vegas Air Passenger Traffic Plummets in March

McCarran airport has reported that a massive 490,000 less passengers flew either into or out of the airport in March compared with the same month last year. Officials have given figures of 3.6M against 4.1M, a massive drop of 11.8%, and the 17th consecutive month that the airport has suffered year-on-year drops.

US Airways is the carrier suffering the greatest, it handled 459,000 passengers last month, around 225,000 less than March 2008. It has massively curtailed it’s Las Vegas routes, and has passenger numbers to the airport 34% down so far this year compared to last.

These figures show that the recession is still biting hard, and the city of Las Vegas continues to suffer. We can only hope that things start to pick up soon, and that the summer season can start to see a turn-around.

Kelly Osbourne to Marry in Vegas?

A rumour is currently going around a few websites is that Kelly Osbourne plans to get married shortly in Las Vegas, to boyfriend Luke Worrell. Apparently the ceremony will be a ‘quickie’ drive-through marriage, conducted in no less than a pink Cadillac.

Mother Sharon Osbourne doesn’t seem to concerned with the plans, which are said to cost only around $45 and take about 15 mins, she is quoted as saying: “I’m not disappointed. I want to see her happy so if that is what she wants to do, then I am happy with that.”, and of course it is no secret that she has wanted grandchildren for years.

Kelly Osbourne seems to have had a turn-around after previously rubbishing the idea after Peaches Geldof’s ill-fated marriage - will this one last longer?

Las Vegas Art Museum to Close

It’s been reported that the Las Vegas Art Museum will close this coming Saturday, due to the ongoing economic problems affecting the donations so vital to the museums running.

The museum has been open for nearly 60 years, recently turning its focus to contemporary arts. It has over one thousand members, and is held in high regard in the community.

They hope to re-open at some time in the future.

Las Vegas ‘America’s Emptiest City’ - Forbes

A recent article on Forbes.com called Las Vegas Americas emptiest city, whereas just a few years ago it was America’s fastest growing!  So, has the recent change in the worlds financial situation caused a mass exodus from Sin City?

Actually if you look at the figures it appears not.  Yes people are having their houses re-possesed (foreclosure for you US readers), but that doesn’t mean they are moving out from the gambling capital of the world, in fact they are just looking to rent somewhere instead.  The reason there are so many vacancies for both rentals and sales is the rate at which new constuction has taken place in recent years - supply was racing away, but then demand levelled out.

For those who have had their house re-possesed, or are already renting, the good news is that this scenario has meant landlords are having to cut asking prices for rentals in order to be more attractive to tenants.

World Financial Downturn Starting to Hit Las Vegas Casinos

The much publicised world financial downturn is now being seen to be affecting Las Vegas casinos. Recent figures have shown that September 2008 saw a fraction more than 10% less visitors to the city compared with the same month a year ago, and those who did visit paid more tan 20% less on rooms. Casinos revenue was more than 5% down over the same period comparison.

Many companies have paused construction on some of their projects, including some fairly large-scale ones, which means the Strip is likely to look like a building site for a few years more at least. It it also probable that some of the smaller casinos are likely to fall into trouble and run the possibility of closing.

Las Vegas as a tourist destination may not be so well equipped to cope with the current financial crisis as it was in the past - previously hotel rooms were kept low in order to attract visitors to the casinos where revenue could be taken, but recent years have seen hotels raise their prices as Las Vegas as a destination has become more popular in general appeal. Will the hotels have to resort to slashing prices to attract tourists? And if they do will these visitors have enough money to gamble in the casinos to compensate for this loss? All this remains to be seen, suffice to say these are definately difficult times for Las Vegas casino executives.

Aliante Station Casino Opening Today

Station Casinos is due to open its newest casino today - Aliante Station Casino in North Las Vegas.  The $662 million casino-hotel will have 202 rooms, as well as six restaurants and a food court, a movie theater, a 600-seat concert hall and 14,000 sq feet of meeting and banquet space. The casino will hold more than 2,550 slot machines, 40 table games and also a 12-table poker room.

Frank Fertitta III, Station Chief Executive, called the project the smoothest he has ever worked on, and Mayor Michael Montandon calls the new resort an economic boost for North Las Vegas, which has been particularly hit hard by the well publicised housing and mortgage crisis. Station Casinos themselves yesterday reported over $23 million in quarterly losses.

Paris Hilton Celebrates Her Birthday in Las Vegas

Paris Hilton celebrated her 27th birthday last weekend, with a Las Vegas party extravaganza that well and truly lived up to her reputation. She started the night in the Pussycat Dolls lounge in Caesars Las Vegas, taking to the stage to introduce the band wearing a raunchy outfit.

She managed to have a costume change, presumably the high point of her act, to try and keep the crowd interested in her antics, and also did a show swimming around in a massive Martini glass. By the way, for those of you who have seen the pictures and think it may have been worth seeing it probably wasn’t. I’ve watched entertainers in the same ‘glasses’ in Pacha and Ibiza, and the novelty very quickly wears off leaving the observers as bored rigid as those in the glass.

After her ‘perfomance’ she thanked her ‘fans’ and moved on to the Pure night club next door where much drinking would have inevitably have taken place.

Paris is of course no stranger to Las Vegas, often spending time in the city when she isn’t in trouble with the law. Her most recent brush was tame by anyone’s standards - she is being investigated by animal welfare officials in California for having too many pets. According to the state law each household may have only 3 pets, and Paris admitted to having 17. Although she didn’t know where they all were.

Staying with Paris, her recent film, The Hottie and the Nottie, has been voted the worst movie of all time according to users of IMDB, but of course that wouldn’t stop her enjoying herself in Las Vegas. The Paris Hilton saga continues…

Monte Carlo Casino and Hotel Re-Opens

MGM Mirage announced today that the Mote Carlo Hotel and Casino has re-opened in time for President’s Day, after the fire last month which closed the hotel. The loss to the company due to the fire that affected the top of the Las Vegas hotel is estimated to be around $100 Million.

Currently around 1,200 of the hotel’s over 3,000 rooms are open, more are due to open on February 22nd, although the last 500 rooms on the upper floors will need to undergo complete renovation and will therefore take longer to open. Most of these were suite, meaning the company will be losing out on it’s high-end residents which could have a knock on effect on the gaming floor.

Some stores and restaurants have opened already, but all will be open by the 22nd along with the increased room capacity. Master Magician Lance Burton will resume his long running Las Vegas show immediately.

Fire workers are blaming the fire on construction workers using a cutting torch on the roof.

Wynn Reports Flat Results for 4th Quarter

Shares in Wynn Resorts Ltd fell on Wednesday as the Chief Executive Steve Wynn warned that Las Vegas would not be immune from a recession. Executives blamed the less than anticipated growth on higher than expected wins from table game player and a reduction in pedestrian traffic due to the closures of the Stardust and New Frontier Casinos in Las Vegas.

Overall profits were healthy however due to the company’s operation in Macau, indicating how much the Chinese market is important now to the large Gaming companies - in fact earnings from Macau were greater than the Las Vegas operation.

These reports will further dampen the mood and feeling of Las Vegas, increasing fears that the city may be facing a hard time in the coming months and years. With less wealthy people now being more budget conscious and not prepared to spend as much as they have recently, and with Las Vegas recently having been announced as the posting the 3rd highest metro foreclosure rate in the US, things may not be so rosy for the big gaming companies, and there may be an added reliance on Macua to produce profits.

Las Vegas News Round-Up February 10th

A quick round-up of news and events happening in Las Vegas in the last week or so:

First off, I read an article on the Boston Globe about trouble outside the Clark County Marriage Bureau between workers from the various wedding chapels in the city. This is actually an on-going issue, as I remember reading a piece in a newspaper over here in England a couple of years ago. It was quite an explosive read talking about death threats and the suchlike.

The Boston Globe’s article briefly mentions this, but also talks about the hassle people suffer when leaving the Marriage Bureau, from handbillers trying to persuade the couple’s to use the services they are promoting. It has led to scuffles and even more serious incidents between these workers.

Now this is hardly news that handbillers are hassling people, it happens in most major and even smaller tourist areas, and of course the strip itself is plagued by the ‘Strippers to you’ workers, but I think the major issue here is that obviously a wedding is supposed to be a special day, and that these activities are doing nothing to help it be so.

If you hadn’t heard, Cher announced she was leaving retirement to start a residency at Caesars Palace Las Vegas. I have already written a post on this here.

There have been heated debates over plans to draw water from rural Nevada(CNN). This is an issue which affects Las Vegas probably more so than any other country in the Western world, due to the desert climate coupled with the massive growth in both the resident population and visitor numbers.

Finally, MGM Mirage announced that it expects 4th Quarter profits to be lower than previously stated. This is due mainly to the costs involved in opening new resorts.

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