Just How Big a Tourist Attraction Are Casinos?
The face of tourism is changing. After the boom of the low-cost airlines that emerged in the 1990s bringing cheap air travel to many, today people are more circumspect about how, and how often, they travel.
Economic and environmental concerns play a part, and people are also becoming more selective about where they go. With traditional destinations like the Maldives under threat from the changing global climate we’re likely to see the changes in leisure travel become even more extreme in the coming years.
It also means that other destinations taking steps to attract more visitors by providing better and more appealing facilities.
Alongside the new hotels and shopping malls, casinos may also have a role to play in drawing in more people. But there is the fairly big question about just what a draw a casino on its own could prove to be.
Looking at Las Vegas and Macau
The two most obvious places that have leveraged casinos as tourist attractions lie on different sides of the world.
The first of these to emerge was Las Vegas. Ever since the 1950s the city in the middle of the Arizona Desert has built an increasing number of casino resorts including iconic names like the Bellagio and Caesars Palace. Given that all around is arid desert, it’s undoubtedly true that the casinos are the big tourist attraction for the city, a fact which sees around 40 million visitors flock there each year to try their luck.
Over in Macau, there around half this number of visitors each year, although the revenues they generate are greater than Vegas.
What both have in common is that their casinos would be spectacular venues even if they didn’t have the added appeal of the casino itself. For example, the Venetian in Macau even has its own canal network where you can take a gondola ride and imagine that you’re passing beneath the real Bridge of Sighs. And Las Vegas is a place where you can see versions of the Eiffel Tower, the great pyramids and even Caesars Palace all within one square mile.
So, you could argue that the casinos are just part of the attraction.
Attraction or distraction?
Away from the gambling capitals of the world, there are plenty more casinos in tourist areas.
But the big question is whether they form a real reason for holidaymakers to travel there. Or are they just another facility like a local water park, golf complex or shopping complex?
After all, for people who like to gamble there are now more opportunities than ever before for them to do this at one of the many online casinos in the comfort of their own home without the need for international, or even national, travel.
But the fact is that people on holiday have a great deal of spare time on their hands, especially during the evenings when it’s too dark to sun worship and after they’ve enjoyed their dinner. So the casino makes the perfect place to retire to for an hour or two, hopefully with the chance to turning a profit in the process.
The bigger picture
Beyond providing a diversion for holidaymakers it’s certainly true that casinos can form an important part in the overall economic eco-structure of a resort or area.
Firstly, they provide a wide range of employment opportunities ranging from dealers who run the tables to hospitality staff who help to ensure that everyone is having a good time.
When they are situated in hotels, they also provide a very valuable revenue source that can help to keep the particular establishment in profit even at time of low occupancy.
There have also been many examples of casinos being built in deprived or run-down areas with the express purpose of driving urban regeneration. Indeed, in the UK in the early years of the millennium this was a strategy developed by the Labour government under Tony Blair which had plans to build a series of super casinos across the country.
Unfortunately, the global economic crisis of 2008 intervened so these plans never came to fruition.
Even today some governments are looking to the casino sector to boost economic activity. A prime example is in Montreal where the Société des Casinos du Québec is planning a $150 million refurbishment of the Casino De Montréal. This aims to enhance the already impressive building that was originally the French pavilion at Expo 67. It will be very interesting to see the effect that this has on Visitor numbers to Montreal when the refurbishment is complete.
So, in conclusion, it would be fair to say that casinos form part of the attraction for tourists to an area, but are seldom the only reason for visiting. Whether this will change in the future, we’ll just have to wait and see.