LOOKING IN ON: TOURISM

Tuesday, June 12, 2007 | 6:58 a.m.

That bathtub ring around Lake Mead is extending deeper down the canyon walls.

It's just as grim upriver at Lake Powell. At both lakes they've had to move marinas to keep them alongside the shrinking lakes.

Surely, all of this must be translating into disaster for houseboats, one of the niches of Southern Nevada's tourism industry.

But the folks at Forever Resorts, the houseboat concession on lakes Mead and Powell, say business is anything but high and dry.

Darla Cook, a concession executive, which has offered houseboats since 1981, said the low water has generated more calls - many from people worried that their summer vacations are in jeopardy.

"We're telling people that, yes, the lake level is dropping, but there's still a lot of water there," Cook said. "A lot of people are thinking that it's dried up."

At Lake Powell the drought is opening up some new opportunities for boaters. A number of slot canyons formerly submerged have been exposed and are open for exploration.

Cook said the U.S. Park Service has done an excellent job of placing buoys in areas where rocks are being exposed as a result of the low water .

The busiest part of the year for houseboat rentals began with Memorial Day weekend and runs through Sept. 1.

Summer brings large families and groups of friends to Lake Mead, which historically has been the fifth-busiest national park in the country. With 247 square miles to explore and 110 miles of river heading into the west end of the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead is a great escape where it's easy to get out of cell phone range.

Like many other airlines, Korean Air, which currently offers the only nonstop air service between Las Vegas and Asia, is excited about adding Boeing 787s to its fleet.

A spokesman for Korean said there aren't any plans to put the new aircraft on the Las Vegas route when the airline gets them, but there is something new planned beginning July 2 on flights between McCarran International Airport and Seoul.

On that date, Korean will use Boeing 777 jets equipped with audio-video on demand entertainment systems and the first-class cabin will have its Kosmo Sleeper seats that offer cocoon-style seating and an automatic massage feature.

A first-class round-trip ticket from Las Vegas to Seoul, purchased in advance, goes for $8,464.28.