Dreams of Olympic glory vanishing in Vegas: 2002 attendees not rushing to casinos

Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002 | 10:51 a.m.

Las Vegas apparently isn't getting the Winter Olympic Games spinoff it was hoping for.

Some of the city's largest casino operators say they haven't seen any spikes in reservations they can attribute to the 2002 Games, which open in Salt Lake City Feb. 8.

"We've had a few inquiries about that, but our sales department isn't seeing any bookings from the Olympics," said Shelley Mansholt, a spokeswoman for MGM MIRAGE, which operates the MGM Grand, the Bellagio and several other Las Vegas properties.

A spokeswoman for Park Place Entertainment Corp., which operates Caesars Palace and Paris-Las Vegas among other Las Vegas resorts, said earlier this month that the Olympics were not drawing any additional visitors to those hotels.

Debbie Munch said tour-packaging companies have not included Las Vegas in any Olympic charters and Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines -- the two primary companies serving the Las Vegas-Salt Lake City market -- have not added any flights or boosted capacity into Las Vegas or to Salt Lake City from McCarran International Airport.

When Salt Lake City won the bid to host the 2002 Games, some tourism experts expected Las Vegas to benefit, possibly as a cheap lodging alternative to Salt Lake City. The Games are expected to draw 1.5 million visitors and many Salt Lake hotels were offering lodging and ticket packages that cost as much as $10,810 per person for a five-day stay.

In 1984 the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority estimated that the city received $138 million in nongaming revenue as a result of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Terry Jicinsky of the LVCVA's research department said there are no estimates on how much Las Vegas would benefit from the Utah Games.

"It's difficult to quantify in advance," Jicinsky said, because it's impossible to track how many people may include a Las Vegas visit on the front or back end of a Salt Lake City trip.

Jicinsky said the LVCVA has been in contact with tourism officials in Atlanta and Sydney, Australia, cities that played host to the last two Summer Olympic Games.

"Their research did not show an overwhelming amount of pre- and post-Games tours," Jicinsky said.

He said the duration of the Olympics and the significant expense of attending the Games apparently discourage much pre- or post-Games touring by travelers to peripheral sites.

Jicinsky figures the same pattern will be true for Las Vegas during the Salt Lake City Games -- possibly less, since the Winter Games have a smaller following than the Summer Olympics.

Still, Jicinsky plans to track how many people come to Las Vegas before or after going to Salt Lake City and should have a report in March on how many people came and their economic impact on the city.

Even if the Olympics don't draw big crowds to Las Vegas, the city shouldn't be hurting in February.

MGM MIRAGE's Mansholt said February already has three events that draw larger-than-normal crowds. Tourists flock to the city for the Chinese New Year (celebrated Feb. 12-26), Valentine's Day (Feb. 14) and the three-day weekend around Presidents Day (Feb. 18).

This year the National Football League's Super Bowl game, another huge draw for Las Vegas, has fallen into the month (Feb. 3) because the football playoffs were set back a week as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

One of the city's major conventions, the Men's Apparel Guild in California clothing show, is scheduled Feb. 19-22 and 100,000 people are scheduled to attend this year's event.

While it's business as usual in Las Vegas, enthusiasm for the Olympics hit a fever pitch in Northern Nevada over the weekend. The Olympic Torch Relay arrived in Lake Tahoe Sunday and was scheduled to be at the Reno Arch Monday at noon.

The Nevada Commission on Tourism, which boosted the arrival of the torch, has promotional plans for the state during the Games, which will be staged at 10 venues in and around Salt Lake City through Feb. 24.

The commission and five Northern Nevada communities are producing the "Cowboys and Indians Old West Fest" Feb. 15-17 at the Davis County Fairgrounds in Farmington, just north of Salt Lake City. The event is designed to attract tourists to the state with demonstrations of Old West culture.

The LVCVA will have an information center in downtown Salt Lake City to encourage visitors to make a trip to Las Vegas the next time they're in the region.

Through the LVCVA, Las Vegas will be one of the sponsors of a nightly Olympic highlight show on ESPN. The sponsorship is part of the LVCVA's regular broadcast contract with the sports network.com