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Casino Execs: Past Weekend was Strong

LAS VEGAS - Feb. 18, 2002 --Strip casino executives said Monday that last weekend was one of the city's best since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and they credited the convergence of Chinese New Year with the Valentine's Day and President's Day holidays.

About 278,000 visitors were expected to be visiting Las Vegas last weekend, said Kevin Bagger, a Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority research analyst.

That number would have been one of the city's best weekend results, about 9 percent more tourists than the 255,000 who flock to the city on an average weekend.

But it's not the sheer number of tourists that matters most to Strip megaresort executives.

It's the quality of the visitors that really counts, they say. Top casino gamblers were targeted for visits last weekend, with property marketing executives holding special events, parties and entertainment as lures.

Strip gambling revenues have suffered significant year-over-year drops for each month since Sept. 11, with industry insiders blaming the drops on a decline in high-end gambling.

The reluctance of Asian high rollers to fly to Las Vegas in the wake of the suicide hijackings and last fall's anthrax scare fueled the decline.

With Chinese New Year on Feb. 12, Valentine's Day on Thursday and President's Day on Monday, a lot of those gamblers apparently decided to come to Las Vegas.

"It's been a very good weekend," MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said. "This has been one of the few weekends since Sept. 11 that bear a resemblance to our pre-Sept. 11 business."

Feldman partly attributed the strong weekend performance to the convergence of the three holidays, but said evolving customer attitudes about air travel are also behind the rebound.

"The public is getting more accustomed to traveling in the current security environment," he said.

MGM Mirage operates nearly 17,000 Las Vegas hotel rooms at The Mirage, Bellagio, Treasure Island, MGM Grand, New York-New York and the Golden Nugget.

Almost every room was sold last weekend, with rates averaging about 5 percent less than during the same holiday weekend last year, Feldman said.

"This weekend, with the three holidays, was a unique situation rivaled only by the U.S. New Year and the Super Bowl," he said. "The only thing that could compete as a vehicle for luring high-end customers would be a major heavyweight championship boxing match."

MGM Mirage anticipates that upcoming weekends will continue the recent positive trend, but Feldman said that reversing lagging midweek results remains key.

Conventions are one of the primary drivers of midweek tourist business, and the city's biggest trade shows have reported sizable cuts in attendance.

"The biggest of the big shows are all seeing cutbacks," Feldman said. "We're trying to retool, targeting smaller, regional meetings."

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