According to tourism figures showing local visitation fell 8 percent on Las Vegas in February to about 2.8 million people.
Michael Crandall, director of business affairs for the Siegel Group said: “You can’t just sit there and wait for tourism to go back up,”.
Crandall and owner Stephen Siegel are in the midst of a multimillion-dollar renovation despite the economy.
They’re offering rooms for $19.99 per night on major travel Web sites and have managed to fill the hotel 15 of the last 25 nights.
The February occupancy rate of 83.9 percent was 5.5 percentage points lower than February 2008 and the lowest February rate since 82.2 percent in 1991.
In the first two months of 2009, about 5.6 million people visited Las Vegas, a drop of 10 percent from the pace set last year.