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Tourism in Las Vegas continues to decline — with about 38.5 million visitors last year, a 7.5% drop from 2024, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCA).
Rick Harrison of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas and of “Pawn Stars” TV fame told Fox News Digital that his store experienced record-breaking months in both January and February of this year.
“You give customers what they want, and they return,” he said in an interview. “A lot of hotels on the Strip — they’re not hospitals where you have to go to them. There are choices out there. So, they’re changing their pricing around.”
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Harrison said some of the casinos that are “really hot” and “always packed” — such as Circa Resort & Casino — are busy because they “don’t have crazy prices on everything.”
He added, “I don’t have crazy prices, and that’s what [some of the other] casinos need to do. Some casinos have always been doing that, and that is why they are doing well.”
He said a big part of the success for Vegas venues in terms of drawing in tourists is customer experience.
“I have a pawn shop. I changed it into a tourist destination, and people for years [said], ‘You get thousands of people a day at the store, you should charge them something.’ I’m going, ‘No,’ because I want them to come to the store,” said Harrison.
He noted that back in the day, the price of hotel rooms, food and experiences were not as high — making trips to Sin City more attainable for most Americans.
“I want to make sure all of my [visitors] have smiling faces, that they have a great time,” he said. “So when they go back to Ohio or Alabama or something, they tell their friends, ‘Next time you’re in Vegas, you really should go to Rick’s Pawn Shop.'”
Harrison said he’s seen some casinos dropping their prices and offering more deals to tourists, such as modified all-inclusives.
Many officials, hotel owners and travel experts have cited a drop in Canadian tourism as a major reason tourism numbers have been down.
Circa Resort & Casino, for its part, has launched an “at par” promotion — making the exchange rate for Canadians equal at its properties.
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“Canadian [visitors] are down anywhere from 20% to 50%, depending on what month you look at over the course of the last year,” casino owner Derek Stevens previously told Fox News Digital.
Harrison said he’s seeing a decline in Asian tourism right now. “I don’t think that’s necessarily [about] Las Vegas. I think that’s currency issues and economic issues.”
Rising gas prices, driven by oil hovering at nearly $100 per barrel amid the war with Iran, are creating uncertainty for the summer tourism season.
Harrison said gas in Las Vegas is over five dollars a gallon currently.
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“The problem is we get our gasoline from California refineries, so it’s a couple of dollars less than California, because California’s got a crazy tax on everything — but that is tough in Nevada right now,” he said.
He said California residents provide a large part of tourist revenue in Las Vegas.
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“This is still the greatest city in the world. It’s amazing living here,” said Harrison.
“I will talk to my wife and [ask], ‘Which concert would you like to see this weekend?’ OK? [That’s] not like most cities where you wait for a band to come to town. [In Vegas,] there’s always something going on.”
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