Tourism is a serious economic activity in Las Vegas and the wider America. Indeed, significant companies struggle for the control of the lucrative industry. Sadly, most hotels underutilize the underlying potential due to both internal and external factors. One such hotel is the Venetian that is the third largest regarding revenue and the second largest regarding rooms. After a close examination, this report found that the story has excellent chances of improvement. However, a few areas require urgent improvements. They include an increase in the range of services, aggressive marketing, expanding the sources of revenue and branding. If these issues applied from a close range, the hotel would surpass rivals like GMG in the end. More importantly, the volume of transactions will rise while the possibility of long-term survival will increase.
History of Tourism
The history of Las Vegas started in 1821, the year in which Rafael Rivera gave the name that has remained up to date. A close look at the city’s history reveals that the main modes of travelling were through railways, water and caravans. In 1905, the railway connecting Angeles and Salt Lake City opened thereby creating a key avenue of transportation. In 1931, urbanization started after the onset of the Boulder Dam’s construction. After that, there was an influx of male workers. Since the city now hosted many male workers, casino’s and theatres flourished. Also, the dam supplied sufficient electricity to build new hotels along the airstrip. More importantly, the arrival of Howard Hughes in the year 1966 stimulated Las Vega’s tourism even further.
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Casino Funding
Around the summer of 1947, gambling gained legal status in Las Vegas. As a result, the Bank of Las Vegas financed casinos through loans. Equally, other sources of pension funds mobilized to fund additional casinos in the city. By 1954, at least eight million visitors entered the city thereby releasing over 200 million dollars into the economy. Initially, gambling was the only attraction for visitors. However, the introduction of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Carol Channing and other entertainment destinations in Las Vegas opened the city to additional visitors. Routinely, gamblers would visit the film arenas for music bands before entering the casinos for gambling. As time passed, Las Vegas increased connection with cities like New York and Hollywood. Due to strategic importance and collaboration with these cities, Las Vegas continued to grow.
Modern Las Vegas
The emergence of modern Las Vegas started in the year 1956. In 1966, Howard Hughes moved to Las Vegas. Overtime, this entrepreneur purchased hotels, media outlets and real estates in Las Vegas. In particular, Howard spent over $ 300 million for these purchases and used his popularity to domineer over other fields. Slowly, he transformed the city to a metropolitan form.
The Explosive Growth
The final stage of Las Vega’s growth was between 1970 and 2000. Worth to note, the city’s growth lasted up to the financial crisis of 2007 where devastating stagnation affected the progress. Over this period, the city grew by over 60%. By the year 2000, Las Vegas was the largest city among those started in the 20th century. During this time, the city received commercial and residential areas. At the same time, the urban sprawl of single families continued through the valley. After the year 2013, Las Vegas started also saw global resort projects. Up to date, the city has seen many conventions as well as major events such as the consumer electronics show. By 2020, Las Vegas will also see the opening of another arena.
Profile of the Tourism Industry
The Las Vegas Venetian Hotel receives visitors as a share of Las Vega’s visitors. Between the years 2000 and 2018, the number of visitors to Las Vegas increased. In 2000, close to 36 million visitors visited the city. For the next three years, the number remained relatively the same with only slight variations. Between 2004 and 2007, the number rose from 37.39 to 39.2 million. For the next two years, the rate declined to $ 36.35 after which continuous incline started. Up to 2016, the rate rose to 42.94 million visitors. Sadly, the rate reduced through 2017 (39 million) and 2018 (38.85 million).
Visitors to Las Vegas are either international or local. Mostly, those arriving from other countries or far states in America arrive through the airstrips. The two main airships serving Las Vegas are North Las Vegas Airport and McCarran International Airport. Upon arriving in the city, visitors are picked from the airports by respective hotels before hiring cars for personal use.
Compared to the largest four hotels in the city, LVVH claims the third largest share in the fiscal year of 2017. According to the chart, the hotel with the highest sales was Wynn Las Vegas with $ 1.69 billion followed by Bellagio with sales of $ 1.36 billion. After LVVH’s third position, MGM Grand was the fourth with a total revenue of $ 1.13 billion.
The visitors to Las Vegas have varying reasons varying from business, visiting families and entertainment. On the side of entertainment, it is hard to exhaust the options by an eighth. For instance, outdoor entertainment activities include but are not limited to gene racing, high rollers, helicopter, strips, hiking, diving and rock tour. Other reasons of visiting the city are concerts, kid entertainment, concerts, adrenaline games, museum and canyon tour.
Competitive Analysis
Regarding the number of rooms, MGM hotel is the largest with 5,034 rooms. Closely in the second position is the Venetian hotel with only four rooms less. The other competitors are Excalibur hotel (3,981 rooms), Bellagio hotel (3933 rooms) and Wynn hotel (2,716 rooms).
Concerning the revenue, Venetian hotel maintains the second position after Wynn hotel. The difference between Wynn and the remaining hotels is the range of services. For instance, the hotel has a large casino that attracts a large pool of clients. In particular, the casino is loaded with race book, slots, table games and sports. Better still, Wynn hotel enjoys a good view of surrounding mountains and own 18-hole golf course. Compared to the Venetian hotel, a significant gap in the range of facilities is visible. Precisely, Venetian hotel only has family-friendly pools, adult-pools, 90 treatment rooms, indoor wall climbing, the Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and premier restaurants.
The most surprising outcome of the revenue analysis is that MGM takes the fourth position despite having the highest number of rooms. Specifically, the hotel offers 6.5-acre pool area, fitness center, Carrera marble bathrooms and comfortable rooms. Just like in the case of Venetian hotel, the variety of services is narrow. As a result, most of the traffic is lost to Wynn hotel (Oyster.com, 2018).
Another competitive front for comparison is user experience before arriving at the hotel. Typically, hotel managers erroneously assume that the quality of services depends on the experience of consumers after visiting at the hotel. In reality, the adventure starts with the search for information, booking and inquiries. Comparing the five hotels, the Venetian hotel recorded the worst performance. The main weaknesses included traditional rather than premium appearance, complicated navigation and unfamiliar terms.
Impacts of Tourism in the USA
Every year, Las Vegas receives about forty-two million visitors. Approximately, tourism in the city is worth about $ 45 billion. Indeed, Las Vegas is probably the most tourism-reliant state in America. The city is comparable to Orlando, which records an annual average visitation of 48.9 million people. To proof that tourism is a source of jobs, Las Vegas is among the cities where hospitality has the highest number of workers. In 2007, about $ 11.3 billion were paid out as salaries in the city. In an equal measure, the city ranks third in terms of visitor spending as a percentage of GDP. At the same time, about 19% of the city’s GDP attributes to the hospitality industry. In addition to direct contributions, tourism boosts the income of surrounding airlines and car renting companies (Velotta).
The effects of tourism to Las Vegas and the larger America are both positive and negative. Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries. In most countries, the industry’s size even surpasses the food, automobile and oil exports. Usually, tourism spurs economic growth while creating additional job opportunities at the same time. Similarly, tourism is a source of easy cultural blending.
In addition to these effects, tourism also boosts the social life of Las Vegas. First, tourism promotes interactions and peace. In the 21st century, tourism enhances civic pride hence encourage sharing of customs, festivals, food and traditions.
On the negative side, tourism also devastates social interactions. In particular, tourism leads to commercialization of culture as well as bring cookie-cutter approaches to cultures. In the end, these changes water down cultures. Moreover, tourism leads to negative consequences like moral degradation and unhealthy blending of cultures.
Another negative effect that is closely related to disruption of healthy social lives is environmental pollution. Usually, over tourism leads to uncontrollable littering. At the same time, tourism reduces the security of a destination (Dube). Usually, tourism risks the security of Las Vegas on two fronts. One, incoming tourists provide a hideout for incoming terrorists or other forms of attackers. Two, attackers target tourist infested areas so as to maximize the casualties and popularity of attacks.
In the October of 2017, Las Vegas the audience to a concert was surprised with a mass shooting that claimed the life of fifty-eight people and injured scores of others. Shooting from the 32nd floor of a hotel, Paddock fired about 1100 rounds of ammunition. After ten minutes of the shooting, over a thousand people were left injured while the shooter committed suicide in the hotel. Although the motive of this shooting remained unclear, it is clear that the aim includes killing as many as possible. Therefore, a place like Las Vegas with frequent concerts emerged as a good target. In 2017, visitors to southern Nevada spent about $ 34.8 billion on shopping, local transport, beverages, food and lodging (Las-Vegas, 2).
While foods and beverages are subject to sales tax, room tax is subject to lodging taxes. The benefits of these visitors to the economy of Las Vegas are also evident. According to the figure shown below, about $ 712,091,414 worth of tax was collected in 2017. On average, each visitor spent a total of $ 824. Other forms of tax contributions arising from tourism include modified business tax ($ 118.2 million), commerce tax ($ 32.2 million) and tobacco taxes ($ 39.2 million). Furthermore, hotels and casinos pay property tax. For instance, a total of $ 2,317,203,856 taxes were collected from taxable property values of $ 215,822,872,797.
Conclusions
As seen from the history of the city, the journey started in early 1900 when people started to move to the city. Initially, the main modes of transport were railway and roads. After the construction of the Boulder Dam’s development, the city generated sufficient power for buildings and hotels started to mushroom. A little later, gambling became legal, and investors pumped funds towards casino ever since hotels and casinos became the primary sources of the city’s income. Between the year 2000, Las Vegas recorded a total of the city received over 36 million visitors thereby generating incomes of over $ 36.35. One of the hotels that have contributed to the increment in this income is the Venetian hotel. Compared to the last largest four hotels, Venetian claimed the third position in the city regarding the sale. The best performing hotel was Wynn Las Vegas ($ 1.69 billion) and Bellagio ($ 1.36 billion). The main reasons why people visit the hotel include but are not limited to business, visiting families and entertainment. Among the entertainment services offered by the hotels are kid entertainment, concerts, adrenaline games, museum and canyon tour. Compared regarding rooms, the Venetian hotel is the second-best performer. However, the high number of rooms failed to translate to increased hotel income. Perhaps, one of the reasons for this failure is reduced efficiency. The most surprising outcome at this point is that MGM emerges as the best performing hotel regarding revenue while about rooms, the hotel has the second worst performance. Nevertheless, the influx of tourists has not been without challenges. On the positive side, the impacts include increased employment opportunities, cultural blending, increased peacekeeping missions and the spread of knowledge. More importantly, the high number of tourists boosted business tax ($ 118.2 million), commerce tax ($ 32.2 million) and tobacco taxes ($ 39.2 million). On the negative side, tourism devastates social interactions and causes moral degradation. However, the most severe issue is security threat where terrorists and other attackers target the city due to the consistently high population.
Works Cited
- Dubé, Dani-Elle. “Las Vegas Shooting: How It Will Impact Hotel Security”. Global News, Global News, 6 Oct. 2017, http://globalnews.ca/news/3790116/las-vegas-shooting-how-it-will-impact-hotel-security/.
- https://www.venetian.com/suites/luxury.html
- Las-Vegas. “Las Vegas Conventiuon and Visitors Authority”, 2018. https://assets.simpleviewcms.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/lasvegas/EIS_Fiscal_Impacts_May_2018_FINAL_25916e2e-e38c-47b2-af51-1a7d09bd4af3.pdf
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- Oyster.com. “The Biggest Hotels in Las Vegas”, https://www.oyster.com/articles/63227-biggest-hotels-in-vegas/
- “The Venetian® Las Vegas | Luxury Hotels in Las Vegas”. The Venetian® Las Vegas | Luxury Hotels in Las Vegas, http://www.venetian.com/.
- Velotta, Richard N. “Las Vegas May Be Most Tourism-Dependent City in U.S.” LasVegasSun.com, 22 Jan. 2010, http://lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jan/22/las-vegas-may-be-most-tourism-dependent-city-us/.
- Zeke Quezada. “Luxury Las Vegas Style at the Palazzo Hotel”. TripSavvy, TripSavvy, http://www.tripsavvy.com/why-palazzo-las-vegas-resort-1681248.
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