Who travels to Reno? (Las Vegas, Sparks: hotels, home, employment)

[tschnedr]

I'm doing a research project and I'm trying to find a non-biased view of Reno's state of tourism and the overall economy. Obviously the tourism bureau and chamber of commerce will tell you that the city is booming.

Is casino traffic and hotel occupancy down? Is gambling the primary tourist attraction?

[jfkIII]

I just travelled there...casino-related. My wife and I were comped full air fair and hotel for 4 nights. We enjoyed it. Casino traffic/Hotel occupancy seemed kind of low to me. I would say the proximity to Lake Tahoe is big attraction. Gambling, also, but not nearly as much as LV. Huge Bowling Tournaments (Reno is home to The Bowling Hall of Fame.) Economically, I see Reno recovering quicker than LV...jmo.

I would describe what I saw as booming.

[humboldtrat]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Casino traffic/Hotel occupancy seemed kind of low to me.

It's usually slow during the winter. It's a hassle for some people in California to drive there in the snow. Business will pick up in the spring.

[tanmctee]

As you will find in the rest of the country, tourism is down. Fewer people are traveling and more people are trying to capture the tourism dollar.

Reno, is struggling to compete for those dollars; however, the hospitality community had never become accustomed to the HIGH dollar amounts during boom times. As a result, the lows have not been as severe as in other destinations.

Renovation, investment and improvement have continued within the hotel community. Ever major conference property has invested to some degree with someone seeing complete overhauls.

While gaming is important to the economy, it began its decline far before the current economic situation. With the introduction of Indian Gaming all over the west coast, the compeition for gaming dollars is HUGE. The result, hotels have focused more on the conference/meeting/event business. This business is very competitive in today's market, but Reno's lower prices and unique destination have helped to secure a good flow of meetings.

Hope this helps to some degree : )

Originally Posted by tschnedr

I'm doing a research project and I'm trying to find a non-biased view of Reno's state of tourism and the overall economy. Obviously the tourism bureau and chamber of commerce will tell you that the city is booming.

Is casino traffic and hotel occupancy down? Is gambling the primary tourist attraction?

[onebigdummy]

I travel there.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by tschnedr

I'm doing a research project and I'm trying to find a non-biased view of Reno's state of tourism and the overall economy. Obviously the tourism bureau and chamber of commerce will tell you that the city is booming.

Is casino traffic and hotel occupancy down? Is gambling the primary tourist attraction?

I do not think that the CVB would give you a completely rosy picture of Reno and the surrounding area.

You could look at the 10k reports of the casino chains filed with the SEC and you'll see that gambling revenues are down in Reno ... as they have been for years.

The BEST way of measuring the situation is to look at the average room rates at the local properties. For the third time this year, Grand Sierra has sent me an offer for free rooms (and I am NOT a gambler). I have received numbers of offers from Circus Circus, Eldorado, Atlantis, and the like.

[30STM]

you get a lot of military, hunters, business men visit and politicians who also visit carson city the capital. Skiiers come in for mount rose, and tahoe. Summer you have more tourists.

[uli2000]

I come to Reno on occasion. I live in rural Nevada and make trips out of town about every 4-6 weeks for shopping, entertainment, and to escape the monotony of a small town (I grew up in the city). Out of about 10 yearly trips, 1-2 are to Reno, only because it is closer for me to go to Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. I usually stay in a casino hotel and spend a little bit of money in the casino, but that is not my sole reason for going to Reno.

[Biggest Little Drunk]

Tourism is dying in Reno, but it ain't dead, and so long as there's a million folks in Sacramento and millions in the Bay looking for a quick get away, and so long as there's Lake Tahoe and world-class skiing, Reno tourism will be just fine, but never like the good old days. Reno chose not to be Vegas back in 1979 when it voted in slow-growth politicians who rejected a lot of major casino proposals, so the major casinos said, scr** you and went to Vegas and Vegas just exploded.

Tourism used to be Reno's major industry. Even in 2002, casino hotel jobs made up around 12% of local employment but now it's hovering around 8%. According to the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, only 8% of visitors came to Reno to gamble in 2004, down from 12% in 2003 and 23% in 1994. 2005 was the last time a major new casino opened in Reno (as opposed to renovating an old one like Grand Sierra and Siena). There are only seven casinos in downtown Reno now, Sands, Little Nugget, CalNeva, Harrahs, Circus, Silver Legacy, and Eldorado.

Although, gaming is our big draw, we have a number of conventions and special events that bring in tourism like the Bowling Tournaments, Hot August Nights, Safari Convention, cowboy rodeos, volleyball tournaments, Street Vibrations (motorcycles), Artown (art festival all July), pre and post-Burning Man visitors, and little known moose calling convention. Okay that doesn't count, but it was funny to me. Also, during election time, a whole bunch of California Democrats come to Reno to try to get everyone registered and to vote for Democrats. Not kidding.