Las Vegas casino owner offers unique deal to entice visitors back amid slump
Las Vegas casino owners are coming up with creative ways to entice visitors back to Sin City.
Many officials, hotel owners and travel folks are citing a drop in Canadian tourists as a major reason that tourism numbers have been down.
Now, Circa Resort & Casino has launched an "at par" promotion — making the exchange rate for Canadians equal at its properties.
LAS VEGAS TOURISM CRASHES TO EARLY 2000S LEVELS AS VISITORS FLEE THE CITY
Casino owner Derek Stevens told Fox News Digital he was inspired by his upbringing in Detroit.
"When the Canadian exchange rate got too far off a par with the U.S. dollar, I remember many times that restaurants, hotels, bars and such would put a sign out in front of their establishment," he said.
The sign "showed a Canadian flag and a U.S. flag with an equal sign between them — or a Canadian dollar and a U.S. dollar with an equal sign," he said.
Stevens said it was a welcome signal for Canadians from those establishments.
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He said that right now, Canadian tourism is "down so dramatically," not just in Las Vegas but also in Hawaii and Miami.
"Canadian [visitors] are down anywhere from 20% to 50%, depending on what month you look at over the course of the last year," said Stevens.
So far, the response from Canadians has been "bifurcated."
"I would say half or maybe a little less are saying, ‘No, I'm not coming, no chance. I'm upset. I don't feel welcome in the United States,'" said Stevens.
"The other half are like, ‘I appreciate the gesture. I appreciate the welcome. I'm going to make sure that I think about booking with you, because I appreciate the fact that there's someone welcoming us, because we didn't feel welcome,'" he also said.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LCVA) released its year-to-date summary for 2025, which includes numbers through the month of November.
There were 35,457,000 people who visited Sin City — down 7.4% from 2024, the report says.
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The latest month-end summary for November indicates that international visitors were down, with 239,500 tourists, compared to 303,834 tourists last year.
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Total occupancy in 2025 was 80.7% — with average room rates at $183.51 and a convention attendance of 5,682,200.