People will make their own anecdotal gripes about Vegas, but the real reason is the Trump administration’s insane border and trade policies driving away international visitors as they fear getting arbitrarily detained or they actively boycott the US.
Not to mention targeting a lot of the help… no idea why attendance would drop.
This is it. My brother lives in Vegas and I've visited plenty of times and spent time walking the strip in the last couple months.
Way less people from other countries these days compared to last year. You can hear it when walking around town, now it's just English and Spanish.
Spanish? Which ones?
— ICE
Relax, they’re white, it’s Spanish from spain
Even so.
-- ICE
Definitely. I have international friends, we used to meet up in Vegas periodically because it was cheap/easy for me and somewhere they could go to do all the shopping, eating, etc. they wanted.
They aren't doing that right now. And I don't blame them.
I mean the guys already managed to bankrupt a casino in the past, so he’s just added the challenge of trying to bankrupt the whole consortium now!
Back in 2015, Warren Buffett was being interviewed by CNBC about the possibility of a Donald Trump win.
He kind of laughed at that notion, and the interviewer said "Why are you laughing? He's a businessman like you"
Warren Buffett goes: "Every business he's ever had, he's run into the ground"
Then the reporter says: "Well, he's currently leading the polls and slated to win"
I remember Buffett just kind of leaning back in silence, realizing what he said, understanding that the business Donald Trump "would be running" was the United States.
I can’t fucking afford to live in my own hometown, how the fuck can I afford visiting there?
Maybe you could afford to visit if you gambled away your life savings until you struck it big.
Have you considered debt?
Vegas is so cooked.
Another thing harming tourism is the heat for sure. Very regularly over 110f in the summer and there is no shade at all on the strip. The actual concrete temp is easily hitting 120f.
Not to mention the city actually smells OF (not like) human shit. The sewers were never built to handle this many people and it's not a problem anyone is willing to address or acknowledge.
I just went to Vegas for the first time earlier this month. I went for some work related conventions. Everything was expensive as fuck! A modelo was $9. Every time I doordashed a meal it ended up being like $60. Uber was expensive. One of the drivers was moving back to CA the next day because of how high the cost of living had gotten. At least the flights are cheap, right? I also flew Spirit for the first time, and fuck that airline. Never again. If you book with them, plan on a 1-6 hour delay on each end.
No shit, capitalism is out pricing tourism. What do you greedy fucks thought would happen when you create a funnel system for you?
It's not just that. Foreign tourists don't want to risk being detained at a US airport just so some ICE alphamale goon can meet his quota.
Anybody not white and goes to USA today should win a darwin award
They have, to my great surprise, even been harassing and detaining whites. I think there is typically a political slant to it, however. They can't have nonracist and/or nonfascist whites coming through.
Some don't have much of a choice. But yeah, for the volunteers, I agree.
There's always a choice to travel to another country, especially a fascist one.
Have you heard of family? Yeah, sometimes they need help or are sick in a country that doesn't provide healthcare and need taking care of.
"Not have a choice" means that no reasonable person could leave their loved ones to rot and die. So they take that risk. It's "technically" a choice but no one uses that phrase to mean that.
Show some empathy.
Whites aren't necessarily excluded, either. Even white males.
White privilege makes up for them becoming a victim. So not really perpetrated.
Uh, I'm not sure an ordeal like what this guy went through is something others are lining up for, privilege or no. He was detained by ICE for two months, so not quite sure where the white privilege came in...
The city is propped up largely by business conventions, at this point. Businesses don't mind swallowing stupidly high costs, especially for sales+marketing teams who always get blank checks, which artificially inflates the price of visiting for absolutely all other audiences. So, nobody else is going.
I've heard that musicians hate performing in Vegas now because so much of the audience are not real fans - but instead business travelers with comp tickets. Dead audiences who don't care.
Unfortunately, I had my first trip to Vegas last year for work. And again in June. And now again in September. Because I'm there for work with work engagements, I don't get to explore the more interesting things outside the city and strip. And having no interest in gambling, stupid-level drinking, loud noisy music, or flashy shit everywhere, I've come to really hate going there.
If it makes you feel any better, the only thing outside of the city and strip is poverty and sorrow. You're not missing anything.
If you get out of the city, Red Rocks State Park and Hoover dam are worth seeing.
Goodsprings is also nice.
Hi hello to Doc Mitchell!
Vegas sucks but it’s hilarious that Trump is literally bankrupting Vegas
Saw a YouTube video. A can of beer taken in the casino minimarket was not priced on the shelf and rang at $20, with a $4 mandatory automatic tip to the cashier because he opened the can.
What's this, a "we have Dubai at home" kind of scam?
Oh yeah, I'm willing to bet (lol) Vegas now looks to Dubai with envy, and tries to attract the same quality clientele (and slave labor!)
All the glitzy stuff is for the ultra-wealthy, family destinations are replaced with nightclubs, and everyone else gets to work for insulting wages to serve the foreign moneyed class.
Honestly it's a shame the Strip feeds the rest of the city, because outside of that soulless, wretched hive of scum and villainy...the town is pretty alright, all things considered...
I didn't even know Vegas had family destinations. TV and movies made me think it's only for young people on roadtrips and the wealthy.
So, I wanna stress the emphasis on used to. But it totally did.
Everyone who knows anything about this town claims it was much cooler when the mob ran it. Seriously! They were big on legacy and making cool stuff that wowed people and drew them to all the gambling and stuff. That was the era of free drinks at the slots and comped lobster dinners.
They weren't dumb hedgies like the current stewards of the realm, they knew crap like, for instance, parking spaces that make more money than 98% of the staff per hour, was simply bad business.
Now, half of it is owned by Amazon and everything is about exponential stockholder returns. Like everything else in this Ayn Randian ultra-capitalist hellscape.
SO, what used to be cool?
There was a ton of really cool exhibits, free shows along the Strip, cheap buffets, and that kinda thing.
One of the oldest casino properties, Circus Circus, still has the Adventure Dome (although it's sadly a shadow of its former glory days), and New York New York has a pretty fun (if massively overpriced) rollercoaster attached to a large arcade. The casino itself is old with cramped low ceilings and odd smells...
The Flamingo has a gorgeous botanical garden that hosts lots of pretty birds including, yes, flamingos.
The Mirage used to have Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden...with dolphins and tigers and stuff. It's no longer around and it seemed very nice and ethical when we went, but I can't remember if it closed after some kind of scandal or something...
Luxor used to have a walk-through Star Trek experience that modeled the set and everything, with actors walking visitors through an exciting short adventure aboard the ship. (I think the Borg were involved!)
...And they had a 3D motion ride tied to the TV show "ReBoot". (Sadly didn't get to experience either of these)
They still have that "Bodies" anatomy exhibit and one for the Titanic, which is actually pretty amazing.
"T.I" (barf) used to be "Treasure Island", because it used to have big galleons parked in a lagoon up front, where you could watch pirates popping off flintlocks and swordfighting and swinging to board the rival ship every couple of hours.
Then they changed that to "Sirens of T.I" which was kinda the same thing, but "sexier" and less family oriented. (Think leather and more butt-cheek with whip cracking.) Sadly, the one time I was around for that, it was cancelled due to weather that could cause safety concerns with the pyro. :(
Now, the ships and water and ramparts and net rigging decor is all gone and it's some cubular nightclub that has famous DJs sometimes and I can only assume hosts highway robbery at the bar, shady dealings, cocaine benders in the bathrooms, and the occasional hush-hushed drink drugging. You know, stuff for the NEW Vegas clientele.
Let's see...Tropicana used to have a massive "volcano" go off and belch fire occasionally, that was neat! They got rid of that.
There was a massive candy store, "World's Largest Coke Bottle" (I think it was an elevator). . .that still around? I dunno but it's just shopping.
Inside Caesar's Palace there used to be a GIGANTIC Trojan horse as part of the famouse F.A.O Schwartz (spelling?)Toy Store. It was massively overpriced but also just really really cool to check out anyway. It's a gigantic H&M since I last saw it. Sans Trojan horse, replaced by weird hanging manaquins clad in shiny tight leather. (Sensing a theme...)
Excalibur is actually pretty rad still. Houses a large arcade and Tournament of Kings is a legit great time. It's VERY cool. I'm glad it's still there.
The Bellagio has a really cool art conservatory and their famous fountains, and the Wynn has pretty cool floral displays.
Also, Pinball Hall of Fame moved to a more central and much larger location. That place is GREAT fun with a cup of quarters!
But yeah, now almost everything is catering to night clubs, day clubs (which are basically everything wrong with nightclubs but now with pools and solar radiation), people forced to go to conventions for work, and big ticket shows run by the Ticketmaster / Live-Events-or-something cartels.
To see the current attitude that runs this place now, look no further than the fact they host the F1 here now, and hardly anybody who actually lives and works here has a snowball's chance in, well, here, to go see it.
Also "The Sphere", which is a slightly neat novelty eyesore that hosts concerts and crap for like $300 a ticket.
Man...sorry for the super long post, I didn't think I had this much to say on the topic! LOL
I hope it was interesting though!
That was an incredibly interesting read and thank you for taking the time to write that! It seems like the entire place went from this unique experience to enshittified corporate garbage in the last 20 or so years. I mean, a giant H&M? That's like the crappiest fast fashion brand in the world. I thought that city was more about luxury...
I wonder how the corporate fuckboys were able to muscle out the mob though. Is it because they had the money to pay the right people for stricter enforcement of the law?
Are you from Vegas? I was wondering what it's like for locals there. I live in a touristy place of Japan (nowhere near the level of entertainment offered — or used to be offered — by Vegas) and while I appreciate that people from all over are interested in the little island I was born on, I can't help but to resent how a chunk of it solely caters to outsiders. Everywhere I go now it's tourist traps. I could move to a different part of the island I guess, but I was here first lol.
I knew visitors kept dropping but this is the first time I've heard Casinos are taking in more from gamblers. That sounds like the nail in the coffin right there, only people with lots of money are going to Vegas.
We are gambling our lives every day in Chump's America, why should we go to Vegas to do it when we already do it from home?
Vegas used to be a pretty cheap destination for a vacation that saw a ton of profit from the sheer amount of people that funneled there.
It used to be that you would sometimes get buffet and drinks comped if you spent enough time gambling, and that incentive would keep you in that casino continuing to gamble instead of going to a different place. The cost of a buffet meal and a couple highballs was a small price to pay to keep someone at the tables for another couple hours.
Now(within the last 15 years), Vegas is leaning away from being the worldwide gambling destination and leaning more into fine dining and live shows. This has changed the entire economy there and everything is crazy expensive if you're anywhere near the strip.
This is all to say nothing about the drop in tourism in general because you might just get assaulted when you enter the country by some twat from ICE if your skin is darker than a hotel towel.
Vegas never interested me but I have friends who have talked about that shift. Even going somewhere other than a casino, food and entertainment used to be a bargain compared to other vacation destinations, including restaurants that were started by well known chefs. Now everything is at a premium, even more so than other places.
I've been to las Vegas twice now, both times to visit friends there, and both times I went to the strip and yo some restaurants and both times were godawful. It is such a horrid place that shouldn't even exist in the first place, and I have no idea what any tourist would like there apart from semi legal prostitution.
It's a soul sucking place and if it were to die, I think that would be best for everyone, just leave that place.
Americans can barely afford to live with constantly increasing prices, and foreigners get illegally arrested and deported. Who's left to visit Vegas, except maybe Leisure Suit Larry?
As a Canadian there isn't a chance in hell I'm crossing into the USA. It is far too dangerous for a number of reasons. I could end up in a MAGA death camp, detained for weeks (months?) or just randomly shot by their crazy gun-fucking citizens. I don't know why anyone would go there.
Our household is also boycotting all US made products so it wouldn't make sense to spend money directly in the US.
head of tourism insists Sin City isn't dead
It may not be dead, but it does smell kinda like it.
I’m going in a few weeks for a renewable energy conference. I’ll see what’s up. They wanted $1100 for two nights at the Cesar. Hilarious.
Vegas used to be cheap. Sure doesn't feel that way anymore.
Vegas never really recovered properly from covid, but the current economic situation and the political climate aren’t helping either.
Vegas prices went through the roof post-covid, since people had extra money and were spend-happy. This caused price increases across the board, but it also drew the wrong people to Vegas, increasing crime and other problems.
And with the economy being what it is now, people aren’t willing to spend that much in Vegas. And international tourists are actively avoiding the US. Pre-pandemic, 20 percent of Vegas tourism was international tourists.
Vegas needs to cut prices so deeply that international tourists go ‘fuck it, we’ll go anyway’.
It’s dead to me.
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