Tourism

MGM Resorts announces plan for 20,000-seat arena: Friday, March 1, 2013; By Sun Staff; MGM Resorts International wants to build a privately funded, 20,000-seat indoor arena behind the New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts that would feature boxing, top-draw headliners and special events.

Passenger traffic dips at Las Vegas airport: Thursday, February 28, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; Passenger traffic got off to a slow start at McCarran International Airport in January as airport officials reported a 1.6 percent dip for the first month of 2013. Clark County Aviation Department officials said that 3.12 million passengers used McCarran, with most of the drop-off in domestic traffic.

Snubbed by the Olympics, wrestling is heading to Las Vegas: Wednesday, February 27, 2013; Sports:; By Richard N. Velotta; Las Vegas will host an international wrestling event in 2015 that is expected to draw thousands of people to the city and could be one of the last links the sport has with the Olympic Games. The 2015 World Wrestling Championships are slated for the 9,500-seat Orleans Arena in September of that year and will be the first and largest qualifying event to send athletes to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Taxicab Authority OKs extra cabs for Electric Daisy Carnival: Tuesday, February 26, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; The Nevada Taxicab Authority will allow cab companies to put additional cars on the road during June’s Electric Daisy Carnival, but not as many as they had asked for.

Will tourists agree with officials' assurances that Las Vegas is safe?: Tuesday, February 26, 2013; Tourism:; By Richard N. Velotta; While police continue to search for a suspect in last week's shooting and taxi explosion that killed three people on the Strip, the question remains: Will the violence discourage people from coming to Las Vegas? Most tourism leaders say it won’t, and a local expert in crisis communications said the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority did all the right things to assure the public that Las Vegas is a safe place to visit.

Integrity: There’s an app for that: Monday, February 25, 2013; Taxi monitoring software would cut down on long-hauling, but can it be approved?; By Richard N. Velotta; There are about a dozen good reasons the Nevada Taxicab Authority should adopt Frias Transportation Infrastructure’s RideIntegrity taxi monitoring software to help regulate the taxi industry. But there are a handful of reasons why it won’t.

Will Strip shootout and crash hurt Las Vegas tourism?: Thursday, February 21, 2013; By Richard N. Velotta; Las Vegas tourism officials say this morning’s shootout and car crash on the Strip shouldn’t discourage people from coming to the city. But it's too early to determine what effect the violence will have on tourism.

The reaction: Tourists try to make sense of the violence on the Strip: Thursday, February 21, 2013; By Ron Sylvester; At any given time, hundreds of thousands of people are on the Las Vegas Strip, walking around to take in the sights, sleeping in hotel rooms or working in resorts. Early this morning, some heard the ruckus when a person in a black Range Rover opened fire on a Maserati, sending it crashing into a taxi that burst into flames, leaving three people dead and at least six injured.

County to study easing rules to allow vacation home rentals: Wednesday, February 20, 2013; Majority of commissioners still wary, want to avoid proliferation of party houses; By Conor Shine; Short-term vacation rentals are currently outlawed in residential areas in unincorporated Clark County, but that could be changing.

Governor names members of 150th Anniversary Commission: Wednesday, February 20, 2013; By Cy Ryan; Gov. Brian Sandoval has named 13 members to the 150th Anniversary Commission to the headed by Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki. The commission will plan events to mark the 150th birthday of Nevada’s addmission to the Union in 1864.

Legislation to extend downtown hotel-room tax raises questions: Tuesday, February 19, 2013; Business:; By Joe Schoenmann; The city of Las Vegas' proposed state legislation regarding downtown redevelopment now includes extending a 20-year-old room tax an additional 25 years. And it's raising questions among downtown businesses.

Southwest Airlines CEO talks about fares, fees and new routes: Monday, February 18, 2013; tourism: Kelly: Las Vegas is 'always going to be a primo destination'; By Richard N. Velotta; Southwest Airlines is, by far, the busiest commercial air carrier at McCarran International Airport. And, McCarran is Southwest’s second-largest station of the 98 airports it serves. With more than 2,700 Southwest employees in Las Vegas, the company is a major economic force in Southern Nevada, and the airline views the city as a key corporate partner.

Unions hot under the collar: Monday, February 18, 2013; Forecast calls for high pressure, extreme heat in Southern Nevada labor negotiations; By Richard N. Velotta; When Punxsutawney Phil peered out of his burrow in Gobbler’s Knob, Pa., this month, he projected an early spring but didn’t say anything about how hot it was going to get this summer. It has taken a few remarks and actions from Southern Nevada’s labor unions for local prognosticators to forecast how much heat we’re going to get.

Miss America pageant moving from Las Vegas back to New Jersey: Wednesday, February 13, 2013; Associated Press; There she is, Miss America, headed back to Atlantic City. The Miss America pageant was an Atlantic City staple for decades before it was moved to Las Vegas in 2006.

Troubling airline developments: Monday, February 11, 2013; Las Vegas tourism industry could be hurt by merger of carriers, grounding of 787; By Richard N. Velotta; Two big national aviation stories could affect Las Vegas tourism in the months and years ahead. One is a potential merger between American Airlines and US Airways. The other is the grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.