Zing Boom!

Readers of my generation will immediately conjure an image of Bjork, the Icelandic singer dancing manically sometime in the late 1990s, but for those of a different vintage will remember Betty Hutton being responsible for this classic back in 1951. I’ll come back to her later.?

The song came to mind as I spent a couple of days on the Strip both during the week and at weekend during the last couple of weeks. Midweek was uncomfortably quiet and then, zing boom, at the weekends the place was packed. Then it’s nice and quiet, but soon again, another big riot! It seems that it is either totally packed, or totally empty.

I wrote over a year ago that Las Vegas was facing a problem with the absence of conventions (Here) and a slow return to previous levels of business travel. It is time to review the situation.

The Problem Condensed?

After the financial crisis of 2007, convention visitation fell from 6.3m to 4.4m in 2010. It took a further seven years to grow above 2007 levels. In 2019, this number was 6.6m convention visitors. In 2020 it was 1.7m, with none from April onwards. The number is unavailable for 2021, but if it were greater than 2020’s visitation, it would not be significantly so.?

It took a decade to recover the 2 million lost visitors from 2007. How long will the recovery of 5 million convention visitors? 10 years? 15? That's a lot of costs to manage and significant excess inventory.

The consolation is that this is not 9/11. There is significant demand for Las Vegas at weekends and when events occur, notably seen with home games featuring The Raiders and Allegiant Stadium, the town fills up - and does so more frequently than in past crises. Every tax dollar spent on The Allegiant stadium is paying dividends.

The NFR Rodeo in early December 2021 was about as busy as Las Vegas has been mid-week for years. For the right event, the customers are there.

The Solution?

Pat Christenson?is the President of Las Vegas Events, the group which includes representatives of the major casino operators, LVCVA, City and County. Christenson scouts the world finding events and experiences that would add value to the entertainment and lodging experiences that Las Vegas has to offer, including EDC, Rock and Roll Half Marathon, NFL Draft and almost any city-wide initiative that is promoted.??

Christenson is about to get even busier, as the need to actively program the city, especially midweek, is about to get even more important.

However central these set piece trophies are, resorts cannot rely on city-wide initiatives alone to stimulate business. And that is where Betty Hutton returns.

Zing Boom!

Betty Hutton was a contract performer at MGM at the golden age of the silver screen as well as a frequent Broadway star, best known today in the role of Annie Oakley in MGM’s Annie Get Your Gun in 1950. She was also a headliner in Las Vegas, notably at The Last Frontier and Sahara (left) throughout the 50s and 60s. Accompanied by Louis Prima, "It’s Oh So Quiet" frequently reverberated through the showrooms and casinos of early Las Vegas, as we built the reputation as the entertainment capital of the world. Betty Hutton was part of the original strategy, one of the very first generation of stars and entertainers to feature in showrooms, in an attempt to make Las Vegas more than just gambling houses. It worked.

In those days, the predominant customers were affluent Californians, ready to make the short trip to be entertained. Despite being deterred with poor roads, parking charges and with local attractions and casinos competing for attention, they are of renewed importance.

We have the headliner model, with the return of Celine and Michael Bublé and Adele dominating the agenda for 2022. But can we do more than the headliner?

2016’s Desert Trip is better known as Oldchella the festival featuring McCartney, Dylan, the Who and other legacy artists on a single bill, aimed at older Californians. Why wasn't this in Las Vegas and why don’t we program similar themed festivals running midweek, filling venues and hotel rooms. Specifically aimed at the older customer in a controlled environment.

Same again for indie artists. Midweek. On a consolidated bill.

Or Blues, Jazz, 80s? You name it.

The Smith Center has proved that there is a local audience for more mature entertainment, but there is only one stage. What about more limited run Broadway shows? Or even The Royal Shakespeare Company doing Vegas? Why Not.

And then there is the next generation of customer attracted by experiential programming. Meow Wolf at Area 15 has been a great success, with a wide range of concepts attracting millennial customers. Did the casinos miss a trick with these attractions?

Licensed IP in both indoor and outdoor theme parks have started operating successfully in Dubai and in parts of Asia. With a need to attract midweek visitors – or indeed keep existing customers for additional duration, how about reconsidering a legitimate entertainment park again? Circus Circus has been successful for decades. How about another?

Just how successful would Steve Wynn’s Paradise Park have been in attracting visitors in this new climate? A mistake to cancel that project? Who knows!

Away from the traditional analogue experiences is something digital. In other cities eSports and gaming has been activated effectively, driving customers. In Las Vegas it is still on the fringes with implementation peripheral rather than strategic.?

The Sky Caves In, The Devil Cuts Loose

The Las Vegas business model without mid-week conventions is left exposed. Critically.

Gaming revenues at present levels are unsustainable. The gap from missing business travel is something that needs to be replaced.

It is time for real, fresh and radical thinking in reinforcing and reimagining tourism and leisure activities.?

Who are the potential midweek customers. If people go to other places, who are they, why and can we do what they want to there, here? It is my belief that in the challenging economic period that many suspect is forthcoming, people will need relief. They will need to be entertained. They will need Las Vegas.

?

?