The Off-Strip Attraction

With the Star Trek Experience gone and looing less and less likely to come back, and the Liberace Museum now Closed is there a future for these kind of attractions, especially off Strip.

I did visit Star Trek on my first Vegas trip and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was planning to visit the Liberache museum this year, but never got a round to it. I was also planning to visit the Neon Graveyard, but it was closed for relocation/refurbishment when I was there. There are plenty of attractions, such as the Auto Collection at the IP or the Pinball Museum that I have also never visited, and I got to Vegas for 2 weeks at a time.

Is there a future for this kind of attraction, especially off Strip, or are they doomed to die slow lingering deaths, before being lamented by people who never got to go after not taking the chance when they had the opportunity?

Vegas could have a lot of interesting and unique off-strip attractions operating if the casinos would start throwing them in as package deals. Would you be more likely to book 3 , 4 days, or a week or more knowing you were getting scheduled free shuttle service to a whole slew of places, including discounts and free stuff at those places?

I know, I know, I'm sure every minute spent away from the casino floor could be dollars being spent elsewhere. Of course, they could work out percentages of the take from places they send guests.

It might be an useful way to sell vegas vacations.

Actually, for budgeters, they could sell at a minimun free shuttles to Red Rock, Liberace, etc., etc.,, and they could offer up more luxury packages as well.

The sky could be the limit for stuff off-strip then, potentially, where it's cheaper to operate anyway. (I, of course, think it would be great for the local scene if new things started opening up left and right).

Quote: Croupier

There are plenty of attractions, such as the Auto Collection at the IP or the Pinball Museum that I have also never visited, and I got to Vegas for 2 weeks at a time.

If we do meet next June, I'll make sure to take you to the Pinball hall of fame. It's really worth the trip.

Quote:

Is there a future for this kind of attraction, especially off Strip, or are they doomed to die slow lingering deaths, before being lamented by people who never got to go after not taking the chance when they had the opportunity?

Is there a present for them? They seem to be dropping like flies.

To be sure som attractions are still there. The Atomic Testing Museum (worth one visit), the pinball thing, the gun store that lets you shoot a submachinegun and other things. But how many tourists get there is an interesting question. I didn't on my first two trips, I dind't even make it to Downtown my first trip. How many tourists even do repeat trips to Vegas? I know there are many who go regularly, some several times a year. But surely there are also many who go once or twice in their lifetimes. Perhaps more so now that there are other places to gamble almost as good as Vegas.

There is a collection of attraction around the nation sometimes called Road Side America
that seems to be in serious trouble. You might lump the non-strip attractions (like the Liberace Museum) into this larger group.

People are generally more jaded about small scale kitschy tourism. It's like watching a 50 year old science fiction movie (or
even a children't movie). The "special effects" are often laughable, and the pacing of the movie seems incredibly slow
compared to the editing in a modern film.

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LOCAL/TOURIST Markets

The decision to fan out the tourist areas of urban Las Vegas was made about 12 years ago with the opening of
Green Valley Ranch Casino. Previous to that opening the casinos not on the strip were distinctly lower in quality and
only attractive to locals or people visiting locals (they all had small hotels).

Since the mid 1990's they have opened:
1) Green Valley Ranch
2) Suncoast Casino
3) Marriot Resort at Summerlin
4) Lake Las Vegas resort
5) Red Rock Casino
6) South Point equestrian center
7) M Resort

Some developers felt that it is a mistake to diffuse the tourist areas all over the urban area.

The high end local casinos do a simple calculation
36 m tourists vist for 3.5 days apiece = 126 million days
1.5 m locals in town for 365 days apiece = 550 million days

even accounting for the fact that 1/4 of the locals are underage, there is still a potential big market
appealing to upscale locals. Casinos like Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch can pull in as much money
(especially midweek) from locals as they can from tourists.

I have to reply to some of the ideas here.

My wife and I have been to Vegas twice (both times for 4 days 2009 & 2010) and are planning a trip next year.

We have been on a Helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, a bus tour of the Hoover Dam, the cars at IP, and
5 shows at different casinos.

For 2011 we are looking a 7 day stay and renting a car and seeing some of the sites away from the strip or
areas covered by public transportation.

We have loved Vegas and enjoyed our trips. But after 3 trips we will have seen all the major things we want
to see. If more promotions for off strip or local attractions were offered it might lead to more trips.

I found this web site after our first trip and used ideas and recommendations to improve our second trip, and
planning for our next one. But not all web searches show easy to find attractions or attractions that are worth the
effort if you don't want to rent a car.

Hopefully we can return in a few years and see new shows and some of the other tourists sites that are not
advertised as well or that may interest us more at that time.

Chuck

Another thing that I have been saying is that crucial to long term prosperity for Las Vegas is the need to get more
people to stay for an extra night.

I don't see the transportation infrastructure expanding to the point that they will be able to accomodate more than
the 40 million visitors in a year.

In general, I foresee a shrinking of the current rates of travel by the developed world. Only London and New York City
have more than 100 million air travellers per year (with London closer to 130 million). The new mayor of London decided
to stop the runway expansion in all of the London airports making a reference to "binge flying" or the need to make
senseless short trips for purely entertainment purposes. He said that the supposed economic advantages of maintaining London's
pre-eminent position as the primary air city are not worth the environmental cost.

Now London does have a tunnel under the channel which they are hoping to make more efficient use of by sharing it with
German, Italian, Swiss and Spanish trains, but I think it is significant.

Rather than expand Vegas's infrastructure (i.e. build a second airport), there may be greater emphasis on trying to
get people to stay longer. Attractions that require some effort to get to may be crucial to keeping people another day.

Quote: pacomartin

The decision to fan out the tourist areas of urban Las Vegas was made about 12 years ago with the opening of
Green Valley Ranch Casino. Previous to that opening the casinos not on the strip were distinctly lower in quality and
only attractive to locals or people visiting locals (they all had small hotels).

Since the mid 1990's they have opened:
1) Green Valley Ranch
2) Suncoast Casino
3) Marriot Resort at Summerlin
4) Lake Las Vegas resort
5) Red Rock Casino
6) South Point equestrian center
7) M Resort

Actually, the pioneering work in these markets was done much earlier--first by small operators who opened casinos such as the Rainbow Club in downtown Henderson and Danny's Slot Emporium in the southeast, then by other, more substantial operations such as Sam's Town. Palace Station was the first Station casino, and they were successful enough that their business model was emulated by Fiesta, the Reserve, Santa Fe, Gold Coast, Orleans, Arizona Charlie's, and many others. By the time Green Valley Ranch was built, "locals'" casinos had existed for a decade or more, and were extremely successful for the most part.

It's debatable whether those casinos were "lower in quality". The gambling was definitely BETTER than on the Strip, the food was of good quality if not matching the best that the Strip could offer, but it was decidedly cheaper, and the hotel rooms, though not as numerous, were often very nice and very inexpensive (the Orleans in particular comes to mind). What was generally lacking was "Vegas-style" entertainment, but the gap started to narrow there as well.

The sea change was when the locals' casinos started to market (somewhat tentatively at first) to out-of-towners. The hook was, you could enjoy the touristy, ripoff Strip without actually paying for it, then jump in a cab, bus, or free shuttle and wing it back to your hotel for a good, inexpensive meal and some low-limit gambling. The difference, even now, between the cost of a weekend at the Gold Coast and a weekend at the Bellagio is several hundred dollars. As long as the locals' casinos could demonstrate that they weren't on the far side of the moon, but were, in fact, just a few minutes away, they could attract the tourists who were tired of $199 rooms on the tenth floor that looked out on the hotel heating vents, and $29.99 buffets that featured edible petroleum products.

The next iteration was locals' casinos that touted themselves as destinations in their own rights, and that's the era that was ushered in by the hotels that you listed.

Here we go again with the know-it-all! I wonder what it's like living with someone who pretends to know more than you....ALL the time! Imagine if he put on a show at the IP or other venue. He wouldn't even have to wear a turbine.

Quote: JerryLogan

Here we go again with the know-it-all! I wonder what it's like living with someone who pretends to know more than you....ALL the time! Imagine if he put on a show at the IP or other venue. He wouldn't even have to wear a turbine.

....."Here we go again with the know-it-all!" >>> Yep, I agree!! Ken

Quote: JerryLogan

Here we go again with the know-it-all! I wonder what it's like living with someone who pretends to know more than you....ALL the time! Imagine if he put on a show at the IP or other venue. He wouldn't even have to wear a turbine.

How would I "wear" a jet engine?

Quote: mkl654321

It's debatable whether those casinos were "lower in quality".

Depends what the tourist considers "quality".

>The gambling was definitely BETTER than on the Strip,
Slot machine settings? Better than on the strip only because the casino had to lure customers.
Pace of craps game? Yeah, this is "better" but no one would trek from a Touristy Mega-Resort solely for that reason.
Downtown Odds? Only relevant if you make the applicable bets.
> the food was of good quality if not matching the best that the Strip could offer, but it was decidedly cheaper
In some ways I enjoyed the food Downtown more than the strip. All the Strip really offers is the puffery. That "Visit Your Fine Feathered Friends" billboard in Los Angeles depicting the costumed showgirls in Vegas was the lure of the Strip. People might say they went to Vegas for the weekend to their coworkers, they would never say they had gone to Henderson.

>and the hotel rooms, though not as numerous, were often very nice and very inexpensive.
It was still a smaller hotel room and the other hotel guests were the Downtown type rather than the Strip type.
I don't know if Vegas Visitors really want a cheap room in a cheap area. They want a cheap room in a great area. A bargain.

>The sea change was when the locals' casinos started to market (somewhat tentatively at first) to out-of-towners.
Yes. In the early 70s, most ads and coupons said "Out of State Identification Required". The casinos felt their customers were tourists. Local casinos were aimed at locals but also were taking note of tourists who might enjoy a more modest resort. I'm sure gamblers might not care much, but the wives and kids did. So other things in Vegas became important. Circus Circus had baby strollers all over the place, but families grow and the parents want a break. Not all gamblers stay at the tables all day and night. Vegas was shows, clubs, restaurants, etc. as well as casinos.

Edge has a usual meaning to gamblers, but to tourists the local casinos offered an edge too. Shorter check in lines is an "edge". More personalized service is an edge. Cheaper rooms is an edge. It became okay for a co-worker to say Henderson rather than Vegas.