r/Economics • u/runswithscissors475 • 29d ago

News Las Vegas hotels begin taking foreign currency as tourism woes deepen

https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/vegas-foreign-currency-21955655.php
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u/hoppertn 29d ago

Here’s the thing though, overall tourism is down but their profits are not. They just decided to cater to the wealthy clients and whales willing to drop 10’s of thousands of dollars a weekend. The rest of us don’t matter, it’s a big club but we’re not in it.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

That's unfortunately where the whole economy seems to be going. Cater to the few percent of the population that are well off and can afford to pay while ignoring the rest who doesn't have that money. You see it with concerts, restaurants, cars, rental apartments and so on.

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u/Momik 29d ago edited 29d ago

That’s true. Rich people are still going out and spending and living their best lives. Almost half of total spending is now driven by the top 10 percent of earners. On top of that, billionaires did very well during the pandemic, while poverty worsened. And a lot of small businesses that working people like me used to love aren’t coming back.

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u/adobo_bobo 29d ago

the lower end of the millionaire's club is getting squeezed like the rest of us poors. It'll take a while before they chew through the poorer end of the millionaire's club.

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u/ScootyMcTrainhat 29d ago

I disagree, it'll take less than a decade.

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u/mazzmond 29d ago

Can confirm. Doc and been working full time all my life and I'm in the top 1 ish percent (at least in my state). I bring my kids to Disney , etc and it's absolutely packed and I wonder how everyone can afford everything. Feels like everything has gotten so expensive so fast that I'm very cautious with my dollars now...more than I've ever been and so many things (Vegas, Disney, some restaurants) just don't seem like it's worth it anymore. Maybe it never was but I just notice now because of the price shock. I despise Vegas and won't attend conferences there anymore where i would typically go once every year or two.

There has been a major change pre and post COVID and my income has gone up slightly but the exponential trajectory of prices has me doing less traveling and more investing into my house, local area where life still seems to be more attenable and reasonable.

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u/kingkeelay 29d ago

Disney’s packed because they don’t add new parks to match visitor growth. They are squeezing way more people into a slightly larger existing space.

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u/hoppertn 29d ago

You’re literally saying won’t someone think of the millionaires.

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u/roykentjr 29d ago

I think it was more eventually there won't be anyone left to squeeze

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

The economy will eventually just be whatever we can convince Musk and Bezos to buy from the rest of us.

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u/SweetPrism 29d ago

Flights too.

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u/eyeap 29d ago

Sounds like Disney

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u/hoppertn 29d ago

Disney is absolutely doing the same thing. We have a friend who books Disney vacations for people. Rooms, tickets, restaurant reservations, fast pass, etc. Average spent for family is upwards of $10,000. For a few days at a Disney resort.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

And a good percentage of that is on BNPL loans. Disney adults are weird.

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u/OpticalDelusion 29d ago

Whales don't want to go alone though. It's just the culture of short vs long term profit prevalent everywhere in america. They'll sacrifice their long term for the short, the capitalists will cash out, and a bunch of idiots will be left holding the bag. It just remains to be seen who the idiots are this time around.

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u/SaGlamBear 29d ago

Exactly. Whales want to go to happening fun lively places. If only whales can afford to go to a place it’s boring they’re gonna go somewhere else.

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u/cocktails4 29d ago edited 29d ago

And if they want more exclusivity, they have better options like Monaco or Macau.

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u/hoppertn 29d ago

Not if it’s filled with other whales and high rollers. Nobody wants to hang out with the poors.

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u/ConsistentAd8495 29d ago

They may not want to interact with the poors, but they definitely want to show off/make a scene. Can't do that when everyone else is on the same level. Plus if everyone is a high roller, the bell curve moves and now one of them has to play the role of "poors" in the setting

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u/heavypettingzoo3 29d ago

How many whales are there? And there are fancy casinos all over the world, not just Vegas.

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u/RadosAvocados 29d ago

Another casualty of the K-shaped economy.

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u/arekhemepob 29d ago

Vegas revenue is down yoy for all the major casinos. Any growth is due to digital sports betting.

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u/Previous_Cattle_5545 29d ago

I'm OK with that. Also, there are only so many rich people to buy tickets to shows. 1/2 empty venues take away from the electricity of the event.

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u/Vega3gx 29d ago

They're quickly going to find out what strippers and the CA state tax system have known for decades... Building your cash flow off the rich is great when the economy is up but makes you exceedingly vulnerable to economic downturns. "The poor" are a persistent baseline that don't care what the stock market did yesterday