When I was growing up, my maternal grandmother lived with us. She was born in 1922, had polio when she was 2, grew up during the Great Depression and had to leave high school to help raise her five brothers and sisters. However, these weren’t the stories she used to tell me about her childhood. Instead, she would tell me about the magic of going to the movies, the feelings she had in these moments of escapism, and then share with me her favorite movies when they came on TV.
As we continue to weave our way through the Great Pandemic, we are also seeking escapism. And the greatest place to go to escape an uncertain reality is Las Vegas. Just as the movie studios in the 1930s were able to provide optimism at a low price during the Depression, our city is providing a safe place to escape. During quarantine, we all watched TV, read and cooked, a lot. Now, whenever possible, we want to do something else.
The present of Las Vegas is radically different from what we thought it would be just two years ago. In the first quarter of 2020, for hospitality and tourism, we were ready to usher in the new decade with a continued emphasis on authenticity and a mix of business in Las Vegas that didn’t emphasize gambling. According to UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research, gaming as a percentage of overall income declined from 2006 to 2018 for Strip casinos. Furthermore, 2007 was the highest year for gambling income at $2.4 billion, and post-recession travelers seemed less inclined to gamble. However, in 2021, the industry shattered records, with Las Vegas casinos taking in more than $1 billion a month in gaming revenue for eight consecutive months.
Amanda Belarmino
What accounts for this change, and why should we be optimistic about it? There are a number of reasons why we can be excited about what we are seeing in Las Vegas. First of all, becoming the home of the Raiders gives us a lot to be excited about. Football fans who travel tend to have a high level of discretionary income to spend, and this will continue to translate into success for Las Vegas. Becoming the host city for the Super Bowl, which generated $347 million in revenue for Houston in 2017, will also give us a boost. The legalization of sports betting throughout the United States is also going to continue to benefit us. Finally, the addition of Major League Baseball would solidify Las Vegas as a professional sports destination. If and when the Oakland A’s relocate to Las Vegas, we can be assured that there will be another state-of-the-art stadium in the city, and it will surely be unlike any other ballpark in the country.
Las Vegas, once again, is setting trends in visitor experiences. The impact of cannabis lounges has yet to be assessed, but we know we will be the only location with this type of attraction, and we know we can create unique experiences unlike any other city. The MSG Sphere at the Venetian will also create experiences unlike those seen in any other major city.
A trend we have seen in hospitality and tourism has been a reluctance for workers to return to their pre-pandemic positions. There are a variety of reasons for this, including low pay, lack of advancement opportunities and fear of losing their jobs again if there are new restrictions. However, in Las Vegas, hospitality employees have unprecedented opportunities for advancement, along with higher wages than comparable positions in cities with a similar cost of living. The investment that resorts are willing to make in their employees in terms of education and training is also unique in hospitality.
One of the city’s advantages for a sustained recovery is the presence of the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at UNLV, which was ranked as the top hospitality program in the nation by QS World University Rankings in 2021 and is the No. 2 hotel program in the world. Our students come from a diverse population and gain world-class work experience while studying.
UNLV was recently granted the status of a Research Level 1 school. This means our faculty is doing cutting-edge research that they bring into the classroom to prepare students for today’s workplace, as well as the workplace of tomorrow.
In a time of great uncertainty, the one sure bet is the hospitality and tourism industry in Las Vegas. We have what people are looking for—a safe place to go to escape from the stresses of daily life with experiences and attractions that cannot be duplicated elsewhere. The addition of professional sports and new attractions continue to add new reasons for guests to visit our city. Our ability to train the leaders of tomorrow by providing them with both hands-on experience and a world class-education gives us even more reason to be hopeful.
I decided that I wanted to become a hotel manager when I was 4 years old, because I thought hotels were magical. When you go to a hotel—for a week, two days or even one night—you are treated like royalty and get to be relieved of all your daily responsibilities, and I wanted to be one of the people who helped to make the magic happen. No place is more magical than Las Vegas.
Amanda Belarmino is an assistant professor at the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at UNLV.