alt Hacker NewsI keep seeing articles about this recently, as I'm sure many other people have.
The common response is to point out that, current political environment aside, it's because Vegas has become far more expensive in recent years.
In other words, they've decided to start targeting more wealthy customers.
So it doesn't matter if visitor numbers have dropped (not to the people running Vegas anyway). It only matters if profits have dropped. And I haven't seen any reports on this so far. Maybe profits are growing or stable?
Replies
The article says profit has risen slightly compared to last year July. But they also mention several examples with new perks that are definitely not targeting healthy travellers (like free parking, food credits, ...)
I just checked hotel prices and it does look damn cheap compared to anywhere in Europe. But I guess that's not what makes it expensive
> So it doesn't matter if visitor numbers have dropped
Large corporate casino owners who can still benefit by making up the shortfall in visitors from high rollers who spend (and lose) bigger chunks of money gambling aren't the bulk of the overall Vegas tourist economy - which is mostly employees, suppliers and service providers whose income is driven more by "number of visitors" than "spend per visitor".
And it matters to the visitors who can't afford to go there anymore.