Economy
The driving force in Las Vegas is the tourism industry and the area has about 150,000 hotel rooms, more than any city in the world. In the past, casinos and celebrity shows were the two major attractions for the area. Now shopping, conventions, fine dining, and outdoor beauty are also major forces in attracting tourist dollars.
Las Vegas serves as world headquarters for the world's two largest Fortune 500 gaming companies, Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International. Several companies involved in the manufacture of electronic gaming machines, such as slot machines, are located in the Las Vegas area. In the first decade of the 21st century, shopping and dining have become attractions of their own. Tourism marketing and promotion are handled by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, a county-wide agency. Its annual Visitors Survey provides detailed information on visitor numbers, spending patterns, and resulting revenues.
While Las Vegas has historically attracted high-stake gamblers from around the world, it is now facing tougher competition from the UK, Hong Kong and Macau (China), Eastern Europe and developing areas in the Middle East. The financial and operating risks associated with pursuing the high-roller market will persist, but some U.S. casinos may opt out of chasing high-end players altogether as the costs to attract these players increase significantly and the relative incentive declines.
Las Vegas has recently enjoyed a boom in population and tourism. The urban area has grown outward so quickly that it borders Bureau of Land Management holdings along its edges. This has led to an increase in land values such that medium- and high-density development is occurring closer to the core. The Chinatown of Las Vegas was constructed in the early 1990s on Spring Mountain Road. Chinatown initially consisted of only one large shopping center complex, but the area was expanded with shopping centers that contain various Asian businesses. Over the past few years, retirees have been moving to the metro area, driving businesses that support them from housing to health care.
Las Vegas has been seeking to expand its manufacturing and research bases. There have been positive signs such as the World Market Center located in the city, and the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, in addition to many smaller businesses.
While the cost of housing spiked up over 40% in 2004, the lack of business and income taxes still makes Nevada an attractive place for many companies to relocate to or expand existing operations. Being a true twenty-four hour city, call centers have always seemed to find Las Vegas a good place to hire workers who are accustomed to working at all hours.
The construction industry usually accounts for a large share of the economy in Las Vegas. Hotel casinos planned for the Strip can take years to build and employ thousands of workers. The same could be said of the housing boom. With the introduction of Turnberry Towers, developers discovered that there was a large demand for high-end condominiums. At the end of 2004, several major condominium towers were in various stages of development, however, by 2008, the construction industry was in a downturn due to the credit crunch.
Constant population growth means that the housing construction industry is important. In 2000 more than 21,000 new homes and 26,000 resale homes were purchased. In early 2005 there were 20 residential development projects of more than 300 acres (120 ha) each underway. During the that same period, Las Vegas was regarded as the fastest-growing community in the US. However, the financial crisis of 2007-2010 and the accompanying business downturn has sent business and growth tumbling, with Las Vegas recording one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the country. The disappearance of disposable consumer income and the backlash against corporate entertainment spending sent the hospitality industry into a tailspin from which it has yet to fully recover as of summer 2010.
Other promising residential and office developments have begun construction around downtown Las Vegas. New condominium and high-rise hotel projects have changed the Las Vegas skyline dramatically in recent years. Many large high-rise projects are planned for downtown Las Vegas, as well as the Las Vegas Strip.
In recent years rapid Manhattanization and Vancouverism has occurred in Las Vegas.
Read more about this topic: Las Vegas Valley
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical terms.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Everyone is always in favour of general economy and particular expenditure.”
—Anthony, Sir Eden (1897–1977)