Local Perceptions of Tourism Impacts Essay

Introduction

The city of Las Vegas is regarded as the tourism capital city of the United States. The luminous city is known for its vast tourist's attraction sites, including round the clock casinos, vibrant nightlife, and entertainment joints (Longbottom, 2016). Tourism in the city of Las Vegas can be said to be sustainable as it help with community's input, and community control. The influx of the visitors benefits the nature and local communities. The benefits can be cultural or economic dimensions of tourism development (Joseph, 2017). Therefore, the Las Vegas tourist destination has provided the local communities with quality employment as well as linkages between local businesses and the tourist attractions.

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This paper seeks to examine how the tourism industry has affected the environmental, social-cultural, and economic stakeholders in Las Vegas. The paper uses interviews conducted for number of stakeholders including workers in a hotel, casino, and ordinary clientele. All individual components of the market share play a major role in enriching the Las Vegas tourism industry. The following write up illustrates the sentiments of a tourist, hotel manager and a government representative from the state government of Nevada.

Nevada State Tourism Department

I interviewed Susan Mowers who is the Director of Tourism in the state of Nevada, which encompasses the city of Las Vegas. The Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs is a type of cabinet-level agency, which works for the marketing of the state of Nevada (CBS News, 2015). The agency markets the state as an excellent destination for business and leisure travelers. It enhances the quality of life for all the people that live in the state. According to Susan Mowers, the tourism industry is an essential source of income for the people of Nevada. The city attracts more than 43 million visitors every year. Susan described that the state and local government, which together collect a whopping $1.4 billion in revenue for room taxes and gaming every year. The two governments collected more than $264 million in taxes representing property from the casinos and hotels (Darrus, 2018). Additionally, tourists in the state pay more than $752 million every year in sales taxes. The city was a minute desert stop over before the arrival of the casinos in the Second World War. The city and the suburbs that surround it now have a population of more than 2 million inhabitants (Hsiao, 2014). It is the 10th fastest growing significant metropolitan area in the entire USA (Joseph, 2017). Susan further said that she is optimistic that the place of the city is irreplaceable and that it is likely to remain relevant for a long time to come. She acknowledged the fact that the state was the only place in the US where gambling remained legal for many years through the history of the US.

Susan responded that some of the travelers who might feel dejected about visiting the city always go to a casino close to their residents since the casino phenomenon is one that has spread all over the world. She mentioned that the economy has since bounced back since the recession of 2009 hit the state. Visitors get the chance to see recreations of world famous tourist destinations like the Sphinx of Egypt, Tour Eiffel of Paris and the erupting volcanoes (Hsiao, 2014). The tourism industry in the city of Las Vegas also offers the top quality type of entertainment. The types of entertainment include concerts and headliner shows (Longbottom, 2016). Visitors get the chance to go shopping and visit world-renowned resorts. The outskirts of the city offer energetic displays of color and nostalgic glimpse of the future.

She said visitors have the option of touring the wild world west and sample great outdoor recreation options. The city is fondly referred to as the city of lights for the many neon lights that decorate the vicinity (Hsiao, 2014). Red Rock National Conservation contains enchanting panoramas. She mentioned other exciting areas as Mount Charleston and Lake Mead National Recreation Area. She said the most important aspect about the tourist sites in the city is that they are minutes from the Las Vegas Casinos and Strip hotels. She said the city keeps reinventing and therefore old visitors can never run out of things to do or places to visit. Hotels and tour sites contain unique offerings for visitors every year, and hence they always have a reason to visit.

Susan also mentioned that the city of Las Vegas has contained more than 450 miles of bicycle lanes and more than 100 miles of footpaths. The RTC reserves the ownership of a bus service offering transport to more than 60 million inhabitants of the city within 40 routes on an annual basis (Thompson, 2017). She noted that the city had been successful in the construction and maintenance of an efficient community that is bike friendly. The bike-friendly condition of the city made it win the bronze rated American league of the excellent award (Valente, 2017). Therefore, looking at the city of Las Vegas it is clear that it offers the impression that the city has succeeded at creating a balance in the environmental, social, and economic aspects. The city has been successful in creating sustainable tourism over the years.

Tourist Perception about Tourism in Las Vegas

I secured an interview with Nadia Bianca, a regular tourist to the city of Las Vegas and sought her perception of her experiences in the city. She lived in New York but preferred the Las Vegas clubbing experience. Nadia refers to Las Vegas as the luminous city with vast tourist attractions. She likes the joints for entertainment in the city, the all night casinos, and the vibrant nightlife. She appreciated the top star hotels that occupy the city, the elaborate themes they embody, and the numerous imitations of the Egyptian pyramids. The local tourist destination provides the local communities that have high qualities of employment as well. Nadia appreciates the game of gambling which is the most popular game in the state. She noted that the management of the city has been successful in managing the high number of tourists that arrive in the state from different parts of the world. Generally, she was impressed by how the management of the city was taking care of the high levels of tourist inflations. The water authority of Southern Nevada has been able to save 0.39 billion gallons of water beginning 2008 to 2016 (Thompson, 2017). There has been extensive management and conservation of water supply. The state department of water management recycles more than 75 million gallons of water. The presence of the tourists in the state has helped the state to manage its water resources efficiently.

Hotel Manager's Perception about Tourism in Las Vegas

I secured an interview with the Manager of the Hampton Inn Tropicana hotel. The hotel is one of the most popular joints in the city of Las Vegas. The manager said that the city is one of the most significant and most exciting entertainment joints in the country. The hotel receives an average of 300 visitors on a daily basis. He acknowledged that most of the revenue generated by the company comes from tourists fees. He mentioned the Las Vegas Strip where tourists go to enjoy warm walks in the desert. Visitors can stroll downtown and have a look at the dazzling lights in the city. The manager says he appreciateda large number of visitors to the city and said he would appreciatehaving more tourists for the benefit of the business.

The three groups of stakeholders in the city of Las Vegas play a significant role in the economy of the state. As a leading tourist destination, the city has been keen in ensuring sustainability concerning water use and conservation, renewable and efficiency energy, recycling, mobility as well as community goals (Longbottom, 2016). All the stakeholders are positive about receiving more tourists in the country. Transport is critical in such a great visited tourism destination. To avoid inconveniencing the local people, the destination has developed standards for streets, bike lanes, as well as footpaths. The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada works in close partnership with the city to construct and maintain mobility networks in the region.

References

CBS News. (2015). SOS via SMS: Help for suicidal teens is a text message away, webpage. Retrieved October 12, 2015, from www.cbsnews.com/news/sos-via-sms-help-for-suicidal-teens-is-a-text-message-away/

CNN. (2018, May 1). 15 must-see attractions on the Las Vegas Strip. Retrieved May 1, 2018, from CNN: www.edition.cnn.com/travel/article/las-vegas-strip/index.html

Darrus, N. (2018). Tinder Tourism , Webpage. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from www.medium.com/@nick.darrus/tinder-tourism-21136bd69bb6

Hsiao, T. (2014). 36 Hours in Tinder, Webpage. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from www.huffingtonpost.com/teresa-hsiao/36-hours-in-tinder_b_4990630.html

Joseph, C.-L. (2017). The Friend who got away: Twenty women's true-life tales of friendships that blew up, burned out, or faded away, webpage. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from www.huffingtonpost.co.za/candice-lee-joseph/tinder-and-sex-in-the-city_a_21885055/

Longbottom, J. (2016). Suicide rates for young Australians highest in 10 years, researchers call for new prevention strategies, Website. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-30/system-for-suicide-prevention-rates-highest-10-years/8076780

Thompson, R. (2017). Confessions of a Tinder Tourist: The rules of right-swiping abroad, webpage. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from www.mashable.com/2017/02/03/tinder-tourist-acceptable-worst/#UYFQV4nUKqq4

Valente, J. (2017). How You Can Prevent Teen Suicide With a Text Message, webpage. Retrieved April 3, 2018, from www.kveller.com/how-you-can-prevent-suicide-with-a-text-message/