At an average of $532 for a gaming budget alone, we had to get creative to experience Vegas on our limited traveling college student budget. We started off the day with a tour of the giant convention center where Hugh, our tour guide, informed us on everything we needed to know about the business and Vegas. I was overwhelmed by some of the numbers he was throwing at us--a private buyer just bought a hotel for 750 million-- but I was able to get the general idea that tourism fueled the Las Vegas economy. He told us that the convention center's main mission is to "put heads in beds" and that since tourism is one of the only main incomes for Vegas, they don't want a piece of the pie but the whole thing. 13-15% of Vegas's 37,481,552 visitors are international and Las Vegas was second only to Google in brand popularity this year. Vegas also boasts one of the highest occupancy rates. Despite all this, I was the most aware of our economic downslide today.
Hugh also talked a lot about how things have been changing this last year. He told us that literally every expansion, remodeling, or building project is on hold and that hotels are trying just about everything to attract visitors including Nevada's newest campaign of "Staycation" encouraging Nevadans to take a break from work and enjoy a guiltess vacation close to home. He commented on the changing faces of the vistors of some of the ritzier places due to the economic situation saying that he saw "a kid with a sideways ball cap and pitcher of beer" at a classy place the other day. For a destination of escape, the reality of our economic state had never been so present.
On a lighter note, we got to tour several wedding chapels and even performed some mock weddings while the owners weren't paying attentions. One of the chapels we went to hosts 5,000 weddings a year and when we asked one of the employees if there had been any weddings today she said "Oh yah and there are 20-30 more tonight!"
After seeing more than we bargained for on the strip we found respite in the In and Out burger right on the edge of town. We enjoyed our burgers outside under the faint glow of the strip 1/2 mile away--a minimum distance I intend to keep from Las Vegas for atleast the next couple of years.