Las Vegas resorts enjoy safe, profitable holiday

Friday, Jan. 2, 2004 | 11:45 a.m.

For Las Vegas resorts, the New Year's holiday couldn't have been better and most agreed the unprecedented security mobilized in response to a threat of terrorism was worthwhile.

With an estimated 300,000 people in the city for what turned out to be a safe holiday, the extra security paid off, resort officials said.

Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter, said Las Vegas learned its lesson of failure well in the 1999 when a New Year's Eve celebration fizzled amid the Y2K scare heading into the new millennium.

Curtis said he observed the Las Vegas scene from a different perspective this year -- in front of a television set.

"I'm usually down in my office and can see a small part of things, but on TV, I could see it all and Las Vegas looked fantastic," Curtis said.

"We absolutely blew it during the millennium change, but the city's marketers learned a lot. In the TV coverage, they kept doing remotes from all over, there were several pockets of fun. So not only are there a quarter-million people who are going to go home and tell their friends what a great time they had in Las Vegas, but there are millions upon millions of people watching on TV that saw that Vegas is really a rocking town."

"It was a great kickoff for 2004," said Robert Stewart, a spokesman Park Place Entertainment Corp., owner of Caesars Palace, Paris and other resorts.

"It's clear that Las Vegas continues to be the destination of choice for having fun and having a good time," Stewart said. "We demonstrated that we can provide a safe and secure environment for our guests. We can't ignore the threat of international events and we got a message out that you can have a good time safely here."

A spokesman for the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino and The Hotel at Mandalay Bay said both properties were sold out at undisclosed "good rates."

"It was a very good evening," said spokesman Gordon Absher. "By all measures, New Year' Eve met our expectations. There are certain dates you hope will be bellwethers and New Year's Eve is one we look to."

Absher said the fact that New Year's Eve fell at midweek required some extra effort by some travelers to get to Las Vegas, making the results even more satisfying.

Russ Joyner, the new general manager at Fashion Show mall, said traffic was brisk at the property, owned by the Rouse Co.

"It was great turnout with healthy, strong traffic counts," said Joyner.

A spokeswoman for McCarran International Airport said there were no significant delays -- either by security concerns or weather-related -- in the hours leading up to the New Year's Eve celebration.

Hilarie Grey said New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are not typically big travel days, but a deployment of National Guard troops was on hand for 48 hours through Thursday.