While Australia’s tourism market aims to focus more on gambling in coming years, Las Vegas is taking a different approach. The world’s former gambling capital will spend 2015 attracting non-gamblers. A report in Travel Weekly notes that fewer gamblers are visiting Las Vegas. In 2009, 83% of visitors gambled while on vacation in the City of Sin. By 2013, that number steadily dropped to 71%.
It is suspected that it fell even further in 2014, so Las Vegas properties are changing their operations to cater to this new trend. A major trend that caters to non-gambling visitors is the development of pedestrian areas and promenades. Las Vegas is a beautiful and exciting city, and these new areas provide visitors with the opportunity to explore.
Many visitors want to see the casinos and iconic landmarks without actually gambling inside of them, and pedestrian promenades like LINQ and the Monte Carlo Plaza allow them to do so. Several new properties have opened up that have no connection to the gambling market. The Delano is a new boutique hotel that does not offer a casino or any gambling games.
The Cromwell is another new venue that has a casino but has chosen to promote its night clubs and Giada restaurants “The non-gaming trend has been developing over 20 years. I expect it to continue to grow for the foreseeable future,” says Marc Meltzer of VegasChatter. “It’s not a trend like summer fashion. This is a trend of customer preference that’s finally being met.”
Australian developers are certainly adopting the complete opposite approach. In recent years, we have seen more gamblers visiting the country, and casino operators like Crown Casino and Echo Entertainment want to boost these numbers. As such, we are seeing new high-roller casinos being launched across the country, as well as the renovations of existing casinos.
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