Las Vegas eschews fireworks, fails to attract national exposure

Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2000 | 9:26 a.m.

Cities around the world received priceless media coverage as they brought in 2000 with a bang. But Las Vegas' lack of a fireworks demonstration proved a dud with the national media.

Some of Nevada's top tourism officials said the national media missed the boat by dwelling on negatives rather than on the world-class entertainment inside Las Vegas resorts.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spokesman Rob Powers said that for the most part "the coverage that was obtained was positive for the destination."

However, Powers admitted Las Vegas could have received more TV air time had it displayed fireworks.

"If there had been more outside visuals, it would have given us more coverage," Powers said.

Occasional shots of the Las Vegas Strip and performers such as Barbra Streisand and Carlos Santana flashed across the nation's TV screens. But network commentators also mentioned controversies about the city's costly hotel rooms and double-digit vacancy rates.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, spokeswoman for the Nevada 2000 Millennium Celebration, said the national media should have focused more on the celebrations inside the resorts.

"They weren't concentrating on the heart and soul of the community," Hunt said. "We had the greatest show on Earth with the world's best entertainment. That should have been major news, but it wasn't. Maybe we need to do a better job with the national media."

The estimated 240,000 tourists who celebrated the new millennium in Las Vegas - an average weekend for the resort destination - fell far short of the 800,000 some officials earlier this year estimated would attend.

But Powers said visitor turnouts were down at destinations worldwide.

"A lot of travel surveys done in the past several months indicated up to 75 percent of Americans said they planned to stay at home," Powers said. "That's something frankly no one envisioned six months ago or a year ago.

Still, Powers said the LVCVA was "happy with the way things turned out.

"On balance we were satisfied. We considered it a successful weekend."