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Survey: Gaming's Lure Slips, Sightseeing Tops List of Reason to Visit LV

LAS VEGAS -- Sightseeing, spending time at the pool and shopping rank above gambling in drawing visitors to Las Vegas, a new MRC Group Research Institute survey released Thursday showed.

"The primary purpose of a (Las Vegas) trip isn't gambling any more. It's entertainment and just to get away, to have fun in Las Vegas. That's a big change. Even if you're coming back, the entertainment mix luring you doesn't change," said Jim Medick, CEO of the MRC Group, Nevada's largest market research and public polling firm.

Only 17 percent of visitors surveyed said they planned to gamble while they were in Las Vegas, trailing sightseeing (38 percent), spending time by a pool (29 percent) and shopping (18 percent). Gambling also barely beat seeing a show (15 percent) and fine dining (14 percent), according to the survey.

But once they get here, the bulk of visitors find themselves spending some time gambling.

Sightseeing, the preferred activity among visitors, includes walking the Strip as well as visiting Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon and Death Valley, Medick said.

Visitors still go to an average of eight casinos, "not mainly to gamble, but to see the glitz. They'll walk into The Venetian to see the gondoliers and the art, they'll visit the pirate ship at Treasure Island and they'll watch the fountains at Bellagio," Medick said.

On the average, these visitors will gamble "some" at three to five casinos, "so it's up to the casinos to capture the gamblers. The challenge is getting the visitors to gamble," Medick said.

Erika Brandvik, spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority, said other surveys confirm that visitors do not come primarily to gamble.

"People are lured by the spectacle of Las Vegas and stories they see in the media, but still (surveys show) 87 percent (of our visitors) engage in some kind of gaming once they get here.

"That's the reason Las Vegas has diversified. Gambling won't compel people to come here because it's so universal, but they'll gamble after they get there," Brandvik said.

Bill Thompson, Las Vegas professor and casino gambling expert, said the broad product mix and new interests of visitors combined are "very good because we need to market Las Vegas as other than gambling as long as 85 percent of the people who come still gamble."

"This distinguishes us from every other gambling destinations in the country. No one goes to Atlantic City for the sun and shopping or goes to Biloxi, (Miss.), for the entertainment. This is what distinguishes us from every other destination in the world," he said.

At the survey group, Medick said that despite Las Vegas' "image of being a gambling mecca, which we are, when you look at the other activities drawing visitors here, riverboats and locals casinos just can't compete," Medick said.

"The breadth of activities one can participate in here is a unique selling proposition. It separates us from the competition, the wheat from the chaff, as it were," Medick said.

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman noted that the development of a diversified visitor product "has been a very clear strategy direction for Las Vegas for 12 to 14 years, to create the environment we now have and focus on activities other than gambling to attract a healthy component of first-time visitors.

Park Place Entertainment Corp. spokesman Robert Stewart said, "The future of Las Vegas, as we see it, lies in growing all these entertainment, dining and retail attractions to grow our numbers" and then "build on that foundation to grow our gaming business."

Medick said the proportion of new and repeat visitors also offers Las Vegas a powerful promotional tool.

The poll found 30 percent of the people on the Strip are first time visitors, and 54 percent of them said they were satisfied enough with their trip that they want to return.

"Once you get to Las Vegas, you're coming back to Vegas. That means we're delivering one good entertainment product," Medick said.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority research director Kevin Bagger said his research shows a 97 percent satisfaction rate among visitors to Las Vegas.

And Thompson said first-time visitors represent a prime target for growing the market.

"Let's get the repeat visitor numbers up over 60 percent. Then we'll be golden," he said.

The MRC survey polled 589 respondents at its research facility in the Grand Canal Shoppes of The Venetian from June 6-10 and has a margin of error of +/-4.8 percent.

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