Odds improve for good start to New Year

LOS ANGELES – The odds appeared to be stacked against Las Vegas for this New Year‘s Eve.

LOS ANGELES – The odds appeared to be stacked against Las Vegas for this New Year‘s Eve.

With the key holiday falling in midweek, leisure travelers still scarce and the prospect of conflict with Iraq, many feared the all-important high-rollers would stay away. But analysts said there is new hope that the holiday would be an improvement from New Year‘s Eve last year as a bikini party with Playboy models, a concert by rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the lure of gambling should keep the Las Vegas Strip and the casinos filled.

SkryťVypnúť reklamu
SkryťVypnúť reklamu
SkryťVypnúť reklamu
Článok pokračuje pod video reklamou
SkryťVypnúť reklamu
Článok pokračuje pod video reklamou

SkryťVypnúť reklamu

Investment bank Bear Stearns reports that New Year‘s Eve room rates are down 24 percent from last year, reflecting economic uncertainty, the shutdown in November of Las Vegas-based National Airlines and the midweek holiday.

Las Vegas is a barometer for the hotel, travel and gambling industries, all of which were slowed tremendously by the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center.

Clouding crystal balls throughout the travel industry is the post-Sept. 11 tendency to wait until the last minute to make airline and hotel reservations. „There are people who are going to wake up on the morning of the 30th and say ‘Hey Martha, let‘s go to Vegas.‘ They may be out of luck,“ said Howard Lefkowitz, president of Las Vegas travel and entertainment booking Web site vegas.com. Industry watchers say a war with Iraq could be disastrous for domestic travel, but MGM‘s Murren said it was not dissuading his customers. For many, the potential conflict is a worry but not a good enough reason to avoid domestic travel. „The sense is that it is still far enough off,“ said Bjorn Hanson, lodging and leisure analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He forecast that over the two-week Christmas and New Year period, hotel rates throughout the United States will be up 3.3 percent from 2001 but down 3.6 percent from the end of 2000.

SkryťVypnúť reklamu

Another big holiday for Las Vegas will be Feb. 1 — the start of the Chinese New Year — when Asian high rollers roll into town. But last year the high rollers stayed home, fearing anthrax contamination, said Murren, who this year expects more work for his three planes, shuttling gamblers from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. While holiday busts would not break the bank in Vegas, the New Year celebrations are seen as giving an early cue as to what 2003 will bring.

„It might be an indicator of everybody‘s mood to party,“ Mulkey said.

Reuters

SkryťVypnúť reklamu

Komerčné články

  1. Špičkové pokrytie v záhrade či v pivnici? Takto internet rozšírite do každého kúta
  2. Za hranicami bytu: Ako si vybudovať dobré susedské vzťahy?
  3. Prečo vymeniť plastové vchodové dvere za hliníkové?
  4. Všetky divy sveta v privátnom lietadle dnes so zľavou 12 225 eur
  5. Wellness v prírode: máme tip, kde si na jar najlepšie oddýchnete
  6. Do ZWIRN OFFICE sa sťahuje špičková zubná klinika 3SDent
  7. Slováci minuli za 4 dni na dovolenky 6,4 milióna eur
  8. Deväť dobrých: Jarný literárny výber v denníkoch SME a Korzár
  1. Leťte priamo z KOŠÍC a dovolenkujte na najkrajších plážach
  2. Za hranicami bytu: Ako si vybudovať dobré susedské vzťahy?
  3. Výlet 2 v 1: Jednou nohou na Slovensku, druhou v Rakúsku
  4. Ahoj, TABI! Kto je záhadný digitvor?
  5. Všetky divy sveta v privátnom lietadle dnes so zľavou 12 225 eur
  6. Prečo vymeniť plastové vchodové dvere za hliníkové?
  7. Dobrovoľníci z MetLife vysadili nové stromy a kríky
  8. MISSia splnená. Projekt Kesselbauer ožíva spokojnými majiteľmi
  1. Fellner otvorene: Manželka mi vyčítala, že zo mňa nič nemá 30 706
  2. Deväť dobrých: Jarný literárny výber v denníkoch SME a Korzár 16 534
  3. Do utorka za vás uhradia polovicu exotickej dovolenky 16 532
  4. Slováci minuli za 4 dni na dovolenky 6,4 milióna eur 10 796
  5. Patria medzi svetovú elitu. Slováci zariskovali a predbehli dobu 10 009
  6. Prečo vymeniť plastové vchodové dvere za hliníkové? 9 947
  7. Všetky divy sveta v privátnom lietadle dnes so zľavou 12 225 eur 7 621
  8. McDonald's reštaurácia Košice Jazero ukončuje svoju prevádzku 6 728
SkryťVypnúť reklamu
SkryťVypnúť reklamu
SkryťZatvoriť reklamu