Inside Asian Gaming

February 2009 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 37 Feature approach to assessing the full visitor experience from both an economic as well as a satisfaction perspective.” “There are studies conducted by individual casinos and other related groups out there which provide basic data on visitors, but the Vega$AT Index specifically goes deeper to explore visitor behaviors and satisfaction across a much broader spectrum of Las Vegas activities,” explained Thomas, who is program director for the Index. “This presents real benchmarking information.” He added that with Vega$AT senior executives now have a strategic tool with which to compare their internal customer satisfaction survey results. “In these difficult times, having relevant and timely insights on visitors is more important than ever,” he said. “This study reveals live data you need to help make those critical business decisions when resources are scarce and every investment dollar must be spent prudently. Without question, it’s not only important to know how your players rate you, it is sometimes more important to find out what they think of the competition.” Among telling examples, one thing the study found is there are clear differences in spending and habits between U.S. and non-U.S. visitors. All told, visitation to Las Vegas was trending downward 10 percent through October—the biggest decline since the aftermath of 9/11. But while the number of domestic visitors is down, visitation among foreigners may in fact be on the rise. Still, that may not be enough to offset current declines in revenue, according to the study, which found that visitors from outside the U.S. are spending significantly less gambling than their domestic counterparts. On average, Americans reported spending $633 of their total budget (or about 24 percent) on gambling activities, as compared to non-U.S, visitors, who reported spending only $471 of their total budget on gambling (18 percent). Clearly, with the dollar trading at all- time lows, non-U.S. visitors are placing their money on a variety of other activities— everything from food and entertainment to gifts and shopping sprees—in an effort to maximize their total Las Vegas experience. Some like it live One of the more troubling trends for Las Vegas is the decline in the number of visitors who opt to take in a show. While casinos spend millions of dollars on live entertainment, less thanhalf of all U.S. visitors go to shows. What the Vega$AT Index found was that visitors from the Midwest represent the highest proportion of show-goers, while Las Vegas Boulevard—The Vega$AT survey found clear differences in satisfaction ratings across venue types, and they are not all that high