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INSIDE GAMING: Give Visitors Bargains

LAS VEGAS -- The French have a phrase for it. Plus a change, plus c'est me chose. The more the change, the more remains the same.

While Strip developers have been seduced by the big-spending promises of the rich and famous, most Las Vegas visitors are still attracted by the allure of deal making: the idea of getting a fantasy vacation or business trip on the cheap, a new survey by MRC Group, Nevada's largest survey research company, shows.

When it came to choosing Las Vegas as a destination, nearly a third of the visitors polled said they came for the deals they could get on airfares, another third came for the deals they got on hotel rooms, and almost 20 percent came for a "special deal from one of the casinos." Industry experts warn that Las Vegas had better not get so excited by all the glitz on the Strip that it forgets most visitors come not for the baubles but for the bargains.

The most surprising survey finding was that despite all the pricey development, visitors are taking the escalating cost of a Las Vegas trip in stride. Two-thirds of those surveyed think the price of coming here keeps climbing and their dollars are buying less. But they are still as enthusiastic about coming to Las Vegas for a vacation or a convention as they have been since MRC started sampling for us.

More than 90 percent of those polled said they would recommend Las Vegas to a friend, 60 percent said they'll come back and more than half said it is improving as a destination. Las Vegas, said Neil Rich, MRC's top researcher, has a "unique appeal" that consumers all over the country are willing to pay for.

What gets their attention? Almost 40 percent said they'd been attracted by the prime-time television programs featuring Las Vegas. Only a quarter said they were drawn by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority ad campaign, "What happens here, stays here," despite its market saturation.

Price still matters. Visitors will wait until they can get a deal or they'll pick a resort to stay at on the basis of the discounts they believe they are getting.

The second-biggest surprise, Rich says, was a dramatic drop in the perceived danger of terrorism in Las Vegas.

Nothing has really changed, except politicians have lowered their voices and the feds have stopped barking daily changes in the color-coding. Still, the proportion of those polled saying it was a risk they took into account in visiting fell to an all-time low of 17 percent this winter from 37 percent six months ago.

The MRC Group surveyed almost 400 visitors in the Grand Canal Shoppes last month. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence.

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