Can a thriving city be built in an inland desert far from the ocean? Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, is a case in point. It is more than 460 kilometers west of Los Angeles, the largest city in the western United States, and is surrounded by desolate rocky deserts and Gobi deserts, surrounded by mountains at an altitude of 1,000-3,000 meters.
The climate here is hot and dry in summer, precipitation is scarce, and it belongs to the ** desert climate. It is such a desolate place, and now it has developed into a world-famous city centered on the gambling industry, integrating tourism, shopping and vacation.
The desert city that never sleeps, Las Vegas
In the 30s of the last century, Nevada opened up gambling, laying the policy foundation for the city's development. But at first, there were only a few hotels with casinos, and they didn't make much of a splash. Until the 60s, the arrival of the legendary billionaire Howard Hughes. He spared no expense to acquire a large number of hotels, inns, casinos, restaurants, television stations, airports, etc., and the whole of Las Vegas almost became his personal property.
Since then, the gambling industry here has a more standardized business environment and has become a place where the crown is gathered. The city has been marked with various markers, some people call it "heaven above hell", others call it "**".
Nearly 40 million tourists come here every year, and 7 out of 10 tourists are involved in gambling. In 2022, Las Vegas generated $8.3 billion in gaming revenue, the highest in the United States.
Turn to the capital of tourism and entertainment
Today, Las Vegas is no longer a gambling city. In order to get rid of the homogeneity and fragility of the economy, it began to undergo a transformation from the 90s of the last century. Gradually increase investment in non-gaming tourism resources such as hotels, restaurants, shopping and performances.
When you go to the casino, you must see the huge dance performances, with an average of 30,000 people entering and leaving the show every night. It usually includes performances such as singing and dancing, magic, talk shows, etc. Artists are not only the elite of the United States and even the world. Some casino "shows" simply call for big-name star performances, and Presley Presley has performed on stage many times and has become the trump card of the Hilton Hotel.
Las Vegas is also known as the "Wedding Capital of the World", where more than 120,000 people get married every year. A man and a woman from other places can become legally married in 20 minutes as long as they are at least 18 years old and pay a marriage certificate fee of $55. Weddings can be officiated by a judge or priest. Many couples drove to the church window, where the priest at the window probe presided over the quick ceremony. There are more than 40 such wedding chapels in the city, which are open until midnight from Monday to Friday and 24 hours a day on weekends.
It is also the "capital of divorce" and is famous for its quick divorce. As long as you live in a casino for six weeks, you can divide the two things and have nothing to do with each other. Every year, there are always tens of thousands of couples who break up in Las Vegas.
Vigorously develop the exhibition industry
Las Vegas is also a trade fair city with some of the most well-equipped conference venues in the world. The International Consumer Electronics Show, which gathers high-end technology companies from all over the world, is also home to the world-renowned Construction Machinery Expo and the International Power Transmission Exhibition. Industry summits such as the International Beauty Development Association, the American Drone Show, and the World Hacker Conference have all moved to Las Vegas. The exhibition industry has become the second largest industry in the city after gambling.
The sports industry is also the pillar industry of Las Vegas, and the top sports events in the United States have been held in Las Vegas, such as the familiar NBA Summer League, as well as the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Super Bowl and draft of the National Football League, the UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship, etc., such an important event in Las Vegas is enough to see the core position of Las Vegas in American sports events.
Ten years ago, Las Vegas had just over 5,000 residents, but today it has a permanent population of 600,000 in the downtown area and 2.26 million in the entire metropolitan area, and the trend continues unabated. The total GDP of the entire metropolitan area exceeds $170 billion.
From the perspective of population size, the population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area of 2.26 million is also the level of third- and fourth-tier cities in the central and eastern regions of China.
If you look at the size of the economy, the GDP size of 170 billion US dollars is about 12 trillion yuan, equivalent to the level of China's strong second-tier cities such as Xi'an, Quanzhou, Nantong, etc., can enter the top 30 cities in China, and the strength is not bad.