Executives paint rosy picture of industry’s growth

Wednesday, June 4, 1997 | 10:33 a.m.

Gaming executives are outlining some $8 billion in new and ongoing hotel-casino projects here in a three-day conference on the gaming and lodging industries, sponsored by Oppenheimer & Co. The conference ends Thursday.

The new projects will add some 24,000 rooms to the city's inventory

On Tuesday, MGM Grand, the host resort for the conference, unveiled an upgraded expansion program for its Strip resort and described more than $2 billion in capital spending planned for Atlantic City, Detroit and South Africa, all designed to result in free cash flow of $1.5 billion to $2 billion annually by the year 2001.

MGM plans to spend $700 million upgrading its Strip resort, adding a 1,500-room Mariott Marquis hotel and a 500-room Ritz-Carlton. That will bring the total number of rooms for the Las Vegas resort to 7,000.

Other hotel-casino operators such as Mirage Resorts Inc., Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. and Primadonna Resorts Inc. detailed their plans for ensuring high growth rates and double-digit profit margins continue.

Southern Nevada civic leaders said they're working to make certain the area's rapid population growth and healthy business climate won't be hampered by water shortages, traffic gridlock or other infrastructure-related problems.

Clark County Commissioner Lorraine Hunt, citing Southern Nevada's historic ability to "redefine itself" in the face of changing social and economic conditions, said the "key to continued success is in the kinds of attractions we're now building.

"We are adding some of the most innovative and exciting attractions in the world" to the Las Vegas area, she said. "Our biggest challenges are pricing them properly and providing the necessary infrastructure."

Bob Broadbent, who just retired as Clark County's director of aviation, predicted McCarran International would soon pass New York's JFK airport in airline passengers processed because the addition of new gates and more efficient use of existing ones will lead to a sharp increase in the number of flights.