Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Where are the discounts?

With the economy in not-so-great shape and Las Vegas tourism struggling, I'm surprised that there are not more discount offers from hotels, airlines, and travel sites. I did a quick search, picking sites at random and found that there's not a ton of interest in getting the average, thrifty visitors to Las Vegas.

The airlines and travel sites have their usual discounts listed, but nothing to suggest that there's a reduction in bookings. I'm expecting more widespread promitions like I found on Vegas.com, which has a big banner announcing savings of up to $200. Or the giant HOT DEALS button on the Riviera's site.

I also haven't received any offers via mail or e-mail. Now my action is not such that I'll get a ton of offers, but I usually receive something once or twice per year, at least. I would expect that during this crunch, casinos would start reaching out a little farther to entice folks.

Without a little more aggressive marketing and promotions for discount offers, the Las Vegas tourism industry is going to continue to see declining numbers until the economy picks up, which, from all indications, could be 6 months to 1 year.

I guess I'm surprised - mostly because they hit their target markets pretty heavily during the good times. Why not extend that to travelers when they don't have as many dollars in their pockets???

Viva,
Mike

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