GAMING REVENUE REPORT - JULY 2007

Statewide, and all of the venues in Clark County except Laughlin, showed double digit increase in total gaming win, with Statewide up 10.3% and   Clark County showed a 14% increase, with share up to 85% from 81.9% last year.  In the trailing twelve months Clark County win is up 5.4%.  The Strip led all Clark County locations with win up 15% and share climbing to 53% from 51.2% last year.  Downtown showed a very healthy 10% jump in win, the biggest increase for year-to-date. Share was tied with last year at 4.7%, but Downtown win is still off 2.7% in the trailing twelve months.  This dramatic increase Downtown may be due to a new advertising and promotion campaign for the Fremont Street Experience.  The new East Fremont and The World Market Center are also contributing.  In addition there are two high-rise condominiums that have opened Downtown.  All of this may be contributing to a renaissance for Downtown. It will be interesting to watch the figures in coming months to see if this was a one time gain or a hoped for long-term trend.

Laughlin posted a 4% increase in win, but share was down to 4.6% from 4.9%. In the trailing twelve months Laughlin's win is up 0.5%.

It's interesting to note the difference in the components of each of these Clark County areas' gaming components.  Based on the July report from the Gaming Control Board, 50% of the win on the Strip comes from table games and 50% from slots.  Downtown 20% comes from table games and 80% from slots and in Laughlin slots revenue is an enormous 90% with only 10% coming from table games.  

  McCARRAN AIRPORT REPORT- JULY 2007

July traffic through McCarran was up 4.7%, the same as the year-to-date (YTD) total. The count from the Airport Authority is for both arriving and departing passengers.  Among five leading scheduled carriers, Southwest continues to dominate, with 1.5 million passengers   in July, up 7.3% from last year.  Southwest is up 3.7% YTD.  U.S. Airways, for the first time this year, showed a slight drop of 4.3%, delivering 848,000 passengers vs. 887,254 last year, but the U.S. Airways/America West combination is up 12.7% YTD.  Delta, whose arrivals and departures had been dropping, showed an increase of 6.9%, delivering 224,461 passengers in July and Delta is up 5.3% YTD.  Both American and United had drops in July.  United, at 274,000 passengers, was off 8.9% and is down 4.2% YTD.  American dropped below 200,000 passengers, at 178,000, off 8.8% for the month and is down 9.6% YTD.  Scheduled carriers into of Terminal #1 are up 4.8% YTD. 

Charter passengers into Terminal #1 are down 66%, but up 58% through Terminal 2.  This indicates a shift in passengers from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. All charters combined delivered around 400,000 passengers in July, a total higher than some of the scheduled carriers.

  2008 BROADCAST CALENDAR READY IN MID-OCTOBER

 If you do not receive the calendar and would like a copy call the Las Vegas sales office at 702-737-9899 or e-mail us at sales@highwayradio.com.  

RADIO LISTENING IS STAYING STABLE

  A new nationwide poll from the American Media Services found that nearly two-thirds of Americans listen to radio every day and that most say they are still listening at least as much as they did five years ago.  

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  I-15 SELECTED AS ONE OF THE "NATIONAL CORRIDORS OF THE FUTURE" PROGRAM  

  The U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary, Mary H. Peters, announced on September 10th that the I-15 corridor through Southern California and Nevada has qualified for the prestigious ”Corridor of the Future Program".  This stretch of I-15 is one of six multi-state transportation corridors selected and will be eligible for the accelerated designation of federal funds and project development.  The selection was based on the need for congestion reduction, mobility improvements, the importance for economic development and the innovations by California and Nevada in project delivery and finance. 

  "I-15 is the life line for over 80% of Southern Nevada's goods movement.  This designation will provide opportunities to significantly improve the capacity as well as reduce our congestion," commented Nevada Governor, Jim Gibbons. Mayor Oscar Goodman commented that “ I-15 is the single most important tourism corridor and the life blood of the success of Southern Nevada's economy."  Mayor Goodman is Chairman of the Las Vegas Convention Visitors Authority.  And he went on to say, "This designation will help improve our already on-going efforts to provide safe and timely traveling for our visitors. 

 HIGHWAY RADIO - A VITAL LINK BETWEEN CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL AND CALTRANS

  Highway Radio operators keep in close touch with both the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the California Department of Transportation (Cal Trans).  On September 13th, CalTrans was repaving a section of I-15 south of Baker.  By 2:00 p.m. there were severe back-ups in both directions.  At 5:02 p.m. Cory Baker, operator on duty for the Highway Stations, got a call from CalTrans saying that the highway would be opened at 6:00 p.m. Cory, in turn, relayed the information to the CHP who posted it on their Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) system. During all of this closure Cory was advising travelers of the delays.  Being liaison between the CHP and Cal Trans was not a role he expected to be playing, but we're grateful that   Highway Radio operators can play an important role in moving traffic and keeping travelers informed while traveling across the Mojave with the help and cooperation of both the CHP and CalTrans.

TRAVEL INDUSTRY SUPPORTS TRAVEL PROTECTION ACT OF 2007  

  A bill has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate and the House aimed at addressing the many concerns major travel industry organizations have about the difficulty of foreign travelers getting into the U.S., including:

•  Poor perceptions of the entry experience
•  A lack of accurate information concerning      America's oft-changing security policies 
• The absence of nationally coordinated promotion efforts to compete for visitors in an increasingly  competitive market place.  

  Since 9/11 travel to the U.S. has declined 17%, with a cost to America of $94 billion in spending, 194,000 jobs, and $16 billion in tax receipts, as reported by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA).  A new bill submitted to Congress would help in solving some of these problems. 

  More than 80 U.S. companies involved in the travel industry signed a letter to the members of Congress urging them to support the Travel Promotion Act of 2007 (S.1661 and H.R. 3232 respectively).  The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, MGM Mirage, the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, car rental companies, credit card companies and many other organizations involved in the resort and travel industry were signatories to the letter to Congress.  The representatives of these companies gathered in Washington the week of September 26th to urge federal policy makers to take action on several travel related issues.  At the second annual leadership summit, hosted by the TIA at a Travel Business Roundtable.

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