Hurricane Harvey having little effect on Las Vegas tourism

Strip hotels and tour operators say they are not seeing noticeable cancellations or extensions because of the extreme weather in Texas.

“At this time our Vegas properties are seeing minimal impact from Hurricane Harvey but understand that our guests may need to cancel or extend their stays,” said Richard Broome, executive vice president of public affairs and communications at Caesars Entertainment Corp. ”We will work with each guest who needs to make changes to their reservation and we encourage them to contact the hotel front desk for further information.”

While Texas is the second-largest state by population in the U.S. with 28 million people, its residents account for a small slice of the Las Vegas visitor pie.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, 42.9 million people visited Las Vegas last year.

Nearly 1.7 million people flew to Las Vegas last year from Texas, accounting for 10 percent of all domestic air passengers to the city, according to the visitors authority. Only California sent more passengers by air.

Bryan Kroten, vice president of marketing at Maverick Helicopters, which offers flights over Las Vegas, said Texas residents are not a key demographic for their service.

The South Point, which is hosting two equestrian competitions in early September, said those upcoming events mainly attract people from Western states.

Not all the delays and cancellations have negatively impacted peoples’ lives.

One Texas couple had planned to celebrate their wedding anniversary on the Gulf of Mexico this week. Due to the storm, they decided to travel to Las Vegas and visit the spot where they got married 15 years ago, said Blaze Linn, a wedding consultant at Viva Las Vegas that met the couple on Monday.

Contact Todd Prince at tprince@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0386. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.