Vegas visitors spending more on restaurants, retail, less on gambling

The newly-published 1999 Las Vegas Perspective, which chronicles the economic growth here, says visitors spent an average of $140.80 on food and drink in 1998, compared to $123.87 the previous year. Visitors spent an average of $79.88 on shopping per stay last year, up from $74.77 in 1997.

They spent an average of $216.18 on hotels and motels in 1998, down from $218.05 the previous year. And they spent an average of $28.02 on shows, down from $33.24 the previous year.

Visitors spent an average of $469.29 on gambling during their stay in 1998, down from $515.44 in 1997, Perspective reported. The report said 89 percent of the visitors gambled in 1997, dropping to 87 percent in 1998. Visitors gambled 4 hours per day in 1998, up from 3.9 hours in 1997, according to Perspective.

The figures are based on an average stay of 3.3 nights, with the city hosting some 30.3 million people during 1998.

The figures reflect the growing number of upscale restaurants featuring chefs such as Wolfgang Puck, and stores found on New York's Fifth Avenue and Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive.

"The latest crop of restaurants, shops and shows rival the best of New York and Los Angeles," Frank DeCaro wrote in the April issue of Travel & Leisure magazine.

"In a bid for respectability and the money of upscale travelers, Las Vegas is giving itself the world's most monumental makeover," DeCaro wrote. "Today, this gambler's paradise - once a haven of hairpieces, white shoes, and free drinks for every senior citizen who strapped herself to a slot machine - has gone up, up upscale."

The city is drawing more visitors with higher incomes, the research found.

About 23 percent of visitors last year reported an annual household income of $80,000 or more compared with 18 percent in that income bracket in 1997.

The figures are based on information provided by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

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