Tourism

A new reason to smile on the Las Vegas Strip: You're on camera

A new reason to smile on the Las Vegas Strip: You're on camera

Security on the Strip just got more high-tech. Thirty-seven surveillance cameras now sit atop traffic poles along a 4-mile stretch of the famed Las Vegas Boulevard, part of an effort to boost safety in the tourist-heavy corridor.

4 June 2013
By Jackie Valley

Earn free flights by staying in Las Vegas hotels, and get casino perks for flying

Las Vegas Strip casinos are viewed from the window of a Southwest Airlines passenger jet as it takes off from McCarran International Airport on Dec. 9, 2011.

MGM Resorts International and Southwest Airlines have formed a partnership linking their customer rewards programs. Members of Southwest’s Rapid Rewards and MGM’s M life programs now can accrue points toward free flights and VIP hotel stays from both companies.

3 June 2013
By Ed Komenda

Survey reveals how Las Vegas visitors spend their money

Tourists walk on the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday, April 28, 2011.

A recent Internet survey found Las Vegas-bound visitors who booked their trips on Expedia.com spend an average of $1,600 over a three-day vacation. That’s a lot of dough, considering more than 39 million people visited Southern Nevada last year.

30 May 2013
By Ed Komenda

Will summer pitch be a home run?

Screenshot from the LVCVA "Summer Girls" commercial for the 2013 summer.

Today is the unofficial start of the summer vacation season and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is ready to reel in tourists with strategies that have twists on campaigns that have worked well in the past.

27 May 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Outrage ensues after feds cut funding for counterterrorism efforts in Las Vegas

Congressman Steven Horsford (D-NV), right, takes a tour of the Southern Nevada Counter-Terrorism Center, also known as the Fusion Center, with Jim Owens, left, deputy chief of Metro's homeland security division, and Capt. Al Salinas, center director, at Metro Police Headquarters Thursday, May 2, 2013. Officials at the center are concerned that budget cuts that might negatively affect its operations.

With millions of visitors annually cramming into a world-famous stretch of hotels and casinos, does Las Vegas present an appealing target for terrorists? Not enough to persuade the federal government to continue funding counterterrorism efforts here. The Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Tuesday it was pulling the Las Vegas area’s funding for counterterrorism activities for FY2013.

23 May 2013
By Tovin Lapan,
John Taylor

Recent events raise the question: Is Las Vegas prepared for a major medical emergency?

Medical workers aid injured people at the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013.

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, approximately 300 injured people were treated at 26 Boston-area hospitals. That same week, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded, sending more than 200 inured people to area hospitals. Monday, after a devastatingly large and powerful tornado ripped through Oklahoma, 200 people, including 50 children, were treated for injuries. So, how is Southern Nevada prepared for a large-scale medical emergency? After all, Clark County has one of the largest tourist corridors in the world in the Las Vegas Strip.

23 May 2013
By Tovin Lapan

Rio plans zip line ride between two towers

A rendering shows the VooDoo Skyline thrill ride, which is expected to be operational this summer.

Imagine this: you’re soaring 400 feet above the Las Vegas Strip, strung on a zip line between the Rio’s two towers.

22 May 2013
By Ed Komenda

Confusing tourism and immigration

The battle over immigration reform could get heated, and local tourism leaders hope the federal government’s efforts to reduce visa wait times aren’t lost in the shuffle.

13 May 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

LVCVA teams up with Bravo's 'Watch What Happens Live' for Las Vegas-themed episode

Comedienne Amy Schumer has worked her way up the ranks to her own "Comedy Central" special and headlining gigs on the Strip.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is teaming up with Bravo in a content-partnership effort to help promote Las Vegas as a travel destination.

9 May 2013
By Andrea Domanick

Flat-rate zones deserve a chance

After last month’s blowup over the Legislative Counsel Bureau’s taxicab long-hauling audit, just about everybody is ready to give flat rates a shot. But if the taxi industry has anything to say about it — and you know it does — we won’t see flat rates anytime soon.

6 May 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Jim Murren talks online poker, MGM's park on the Strip and the Rolling Stones

Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, speaks Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2011, at G2E at The Venetian.

MGM Resorts International reported its best quarter in five years Thursday. Chairman and CEO Jim Murren reflected on the good news and looked ahead to MGM's next big task: developing an outdoor dining, retail and recreation plaza on the Las Vegas Strip.

3 May 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Domestic air traffic down, foreign travel up in March at Las Vegas airport

A Virgin Airlines 747-400 arrives at McCarran International Airport for a media event to mark the 10th anniversary of Virgin Atlantic's London to Las Vegas route Tuesday, June 15, 2010.

Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport was flat in March compared with a year ago, with strong international and air tour operations offsetting a slight dip in domestic travel to Las Vegas. The Clark County Aviation Department reported 3.7 million passengers in March, a 0.7 percent increase over last year. For the first quarter, traffic was down 1.4 percent to 9.8 million passengers.

29 April 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Experts: Here's what Vegas needs to become a health care hub

Spa Director Jennifer Lynn, who also heads the Las Vegas Spa Association, is shown in one of three decadent Dragon Suites in Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas Tuesday, April 16, 2013.

When medical and tourism professionals from Southern Nevada got together years ago to plot a course to bring people to Las Vegas to treat their ailments, there were plenty of skeptics. Why would anybody come to a renowned adult playground for a medical procedure? Did Las Vegas really have enough quality physicians to be considered a medical tourism destination?

29 April 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Canadian snowbirds flying north

Wave goodbye, for now, to some of Nevada’s best tourists. Las Vegas’ Canadian snowbirds are flying home.

29 April 2013
By Richard N. Velotta

Author strips down city to find 'Everyday Las Vegas'

The Las Vegas skyline, including hotels and casinos from the world-famous Strip, looms in the background of row upon row of houses.

Urban geography professor Rex Rowley knows what it’s like to live in Las Vegas. He was a local. It wasn’t until he attended the University of Kansas that Rowley realized just how unusual it was that residents in a city identify themselves as a "local."

27 April 2013
By Brian Nordli
« Older Newer »