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July Briefing 2007

Highway Headlines...

MIDWEEK JULY 4^TH HOLIDAY IMPACTS MONTHLY TRAFFIC COUNTS

OCCUPANCY IS UP AND SO ARE ROOM RATES

AIRLINE TRAVEL WILL NOT BE "FUN" THIS SUMMER

TRAFFIC REPORT - June 2007
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MIDWEEK 4TH OF JULY HOLIDAY IMPACTS TRAFFIC COUNTS

I-15 at Stateline/Primm

Average daily traffic and average weekday traffic were each down .06% in June, as measured by the Nevada Department of Transportation magnetic counters at Primm. Weekend was up .04%. (See chart below) The difference between June '07 and June '06 was just 8,000 vehicles. In 2006 the 4^th of July was on a Tuesday, the traffic in the preceding weekend (Friday, June 30^th and Saturday, July 1^st) was much heavier than this year. With the holiday on a Wednesday this year the traffic split between the two weekends. On Friday, June 30^th and Saturday, July 1, 2006 the total vehicle count was 73,900 vs. 63,000 on the comparable weekend this year for a decline of 15%. This could account for the drop in the monthly count. Northbound traffic on the other four non-holiday weekends was also off. June 1^st and Saturday June 2^nd was -2%, 8^th and 9^th -1%, 15^th and 16^th -5% and 22^nd and 23^rd -3%.

Laughlin, Nevada (SR163, Davis Dam Road)

Eastbound into Laughlin from U.S. 95 was up slightly during June. Average daily traffic was +0.6%, Weekday +0.9% and Weekend +0.8%. (See chart below.) The interesting thing about traffic into Laughlin on this route is the consistency. There is very little variation from day to day and week to week. The daily counts, eastbound into Laughlin, vary between a low of 2,700 and a high of 3,800 cars a day. Traffic is slightly higher on Fridays. (See chart below.)

U.S. 95 (Searchlight, .5 miles north of SR 164, Nipton Road)

There was slightly heavier traffic on U.S. 95 with Average Daily Traffic up 3.5%, Weekday up 2.9% and Weekends up 3.6%. (See chart below.)

Mesquite, Nevada (I-15 at the Arizona/California state line)

The report from the NDOT showed Average Daily Traffic at I-15 north of Mesquite up 1.4%, Weekday up 1.8% and Weekend up 2.0%.

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GAMING REVENUE REPORT - MAY 2007

Total gaming win on the Strip was up 2%, lifting win in the preceding 12 months to 4.2%. The Strip's percentage of statewide gaming win (share) was steady with last year at 53.6%. Downtown win increased 1% and share was even with last year at 5.2%. Win in the trailing twelve months is down 4.7%, the same as it was in April.

Down on the river in Laughlin, with the heat coming on, win was down 3.4%, share dropped to 4.6% from 4.9% last year, and in the trailing twelve months win is off 0.3%.

Clark County showed a 1% increase in win with share dropping to 84.7% from 85.4% last year, taking the win in the trailing twelve months down to + 4.3%, which is the lowest so far in this calendar year. Statewide revenue was up 2% and win in the trailing twelve months now is up 3.8%. In January of 2007 statewide win was 6.1% ahead and has been drifting downward since then.

THE LVCVA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

OCCUPANCY IS UP AND SO ARE ROOM RATES

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority publishes a summary of key statistics on a monthly basis. The latest report goes through May 2007. The Briefing will, each month, publish the highlights from the report.

LAS VEGAS

MAY 2007

Visitor Volume +1.2

Occupancy Level +2%

Weekend Occupancy +0.7%

Midweek Occupancy +2.6%

Average Daily Room Rate +17.2%

MAY YEAR-TO-DATE

Visitor Volume 0.7%

Occupancy Level 0.2%

Weekend Occupancy -1.3%

Midweek Occupancy +1%

Average Daily Room Rate +13.1%

                                                                                        LAUGHLIN

                      MAY 2007

Visitor Volume -4.8%

Occupancy Level -0.7%

Average Daily Room Rate +12.5%

                      MAY YEAR-TO-DATE

Visitor Volume    -9.9%

Occupancy Level -4.2%

Average Daily Room Rate +9.8%

                                                                                       MESQUITE

                               MAY 2007

Visitor Volume    -2.8%

Occupancy Level -1.6%

Average Daily Room Rate    +70.8%

                             MAY YEAR-TO-DATE

Visitor Volume    +3.5%

Occupancy Level +3.6%

Average Daily Room Rate   +65.1%

With room occupancy in Las Vegas running between 91% and 92% it's obvious that the hotels are feeling no reluctance to raise room rates.

Laughlin, though showing a slight decline in occupancy still is showing healthy increases in room rates. The same holds true with Mesquite.

SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE PASSES TRAVEL PROMOTION OF 2007

After months of intensive discussion, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has approved S-1661, the "travel promotion act of 2007". The act would create the following:

Ø A Corporation for travel promotion, an independent non-profit corporation governed by a board of directors appointed by the Secretary of Commerce.

Ø A travel promotion fund using funds generated by a visa waiver user fee as well as private industry contributions.

Ø An Office of Travel Promotion with a new Under Secretary to develop programs to increase the numbers of international travelers to the United States. The office would also coordinate activities with the Departments of State and Home Land Security to further improve the nation's visa entry process for international visitors.

There is no information as to when the bill will go to the Senate floor or whether there is a companion bill coming through the House. Since it would be privately funded, the chances of its getting passed into law are good if it can be passed by the Senate and House and reach the President's desk.

LAS VEGAS STRIP #1 GAMING REVENUE MARKET

The Las Vegas Strip is still the #1 casino market by annual revenue at $6.6 billion, based on reports from the American Gaming Association for 2006. Atlantic City, New Jersey at $5.5 billion is second and Chicagoland, Indiana/Illinois, is third at $2.5 billion. For all of Clark County add the Boulder Strip, ranked #9, at $930 million and $630million each Downtown and Laughlin. Kansas City,Kansas is planning to open their first full-blown casino resort and if the plans come to fruition Kansas will be the thirteenth U. S. state to bet that commercial casinos will prove to be very successful.

Most Las Vegas casino operators predicted that the expansion of gaming in other markets would motivate more people to gamble and, therefore, serve as a feeder to Las Vegas. This seems to be an accurate prediction.

"THE SUMMER OF HELL" PREDICTED FOR AIRLINE TRAVEL

An article in a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal predicts that many air travelers will suffer through one of the worst summers in recent history. The total on-time percentage last month for the top forty domestic carriers fell to 69.4% from 74.7% in June 2006. According to the flight tracking service flightstats.com, the proportion of flights that were excessively late rose to 12.7% from 10.1% the previous June. At the same time the number of cancellations more than doubled to 20,301 from 8,710. The Air Transport Association, the airline industry's main trade group, blames the problem on an out-dated radar based air traffic control system.

And Bill Simmons, a writer for EPSN, says that "the benefits of the Las Vegas drive are you don't have to deal with McCarran Airport or as it's better known on Fridays and Sundays, 'the seventh circle of hell'".

CAESARS PALACE ANNOUNCES MAJOR EXPANSION

The July 19^th announcement that Caesars Palace will add a new 665 room tower plus other improvements boosts the count on new rooms along the Strip in the next three and a half years to just under 26,000. The announcement of the $1 billion expansion reinforces the "refurbish or perish" principle and emphasizes that Las Vegas, like the amusement park business, has to create a new attraction at least every three years in order to continue to grow.

FOURTH OF JULY REMOTE AT THE FASHION OUTLETS OF LAS VEGAS:

Remote July

Account Executive, Misty Torricelli congratulates winners at the Fashion Outlet Mall Remote in Primm for the 4th of July! More than 800 people won, show tickets, merchandise and other logo items from advertisers.

NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION JUNE 2007 TRAFFIC SUMMARY
	AVERAGE DAILY TRAFFIC¹	WEEKDAY ²	WEEKEND ³
I-15 NEV/CA STATELINE (PRIMM, NEVADA)	-7%	-7%	4%
I-15 MESQUITE	1.4%	1.8%	2.1%
SR 163 LAUGHLIN - Davis Dam Rd.	1%	1%	1%
US 95 AT SEARCHLIGHT (SR 164)	3.5%	2.9%	4.6%

1. Percentage increase (decrease) in average daily traffic northbound and southbound divided by the total number of days of the month.

2. Percentage increase (decrease) in total traffic northbound and southbound Monday through Thursday divided by the number of days of the month.

3. Percentage increase (decrease) in total traffic northbound and southbound for Saturday and Sunday divided by the number of days of the month.

July Traffic

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