UNITED STATES—If you’ve ever driven to Vegas or flown to Monaco to primarily visit their world-class casinos, you’ve participated in what’s known as casino tourism. Over the last few decades, casino tourism has become a big thing. Tourists who enjoy playing games love visiting casino resorts and gambling destinations around the world, such as Macau, Monte Carlo, and Las Vegas. While casinos are the main pull, tourists also love exploring the localities and nearby attractions. And more and more vacationers who enjoy playing casino games are booking into casino resorts, where they can enjoy everything any vacationer would expect in addition to some of the finest gambling facilities around. Casino tourism isn’t only great for tourists who enjoy playing games and placing bets, it’s also very beneficial to the local communities in several ways.
Casino Tourism Has Become a Big Thing
In the US, casino tourism began shortly after Las Vegas and Atlantic City became the gambling hotspots of America. As other states gradually legalized casinos over the years, more and more people started vacationing in prime casino locations; many of which were not regarded as touristy destinations prior to the casino tourism boom. While casino tourism has existed since the early twentieth century, it has really taken off in the twenty-first century. Now that it’s easier and more affordable to travel to exotic locations, countries all over the world are seeing tourists arrive, and more and more casino resorts are opening or expanding to cater to the influx of vacationers. Even though people the world over, from the United States to New Zealand, can play the best live casino games online with a real dealer in real-time, they cannot relax at the pool or spa or dine at a fancy restaurant as they would be able to do at a casino resort. So, that shows many tourists want to enjoy the other things casino resorts have to offer besides the table games and slot machines on the casino floor.
How Casino Tourism Benefits Local Communities
The rise of casino tourism has been benefiting local communities in several ways. Here are just some of the ways in which the tourism sector has helped.
Casino Tourism Increases Job Opportunities
One of the most significant benefits casino tourism has on local communities is the creation of employment opportunities. For example, Las Vegas has around 160,000 people working in the casino industry and more than 100,000 people working in the hotel industry. If there were no casinos in Las Vegas, and no one visited, those jobs wouldn’t exist.
Casino Tourism Helps Other Local Industries
It isn’t only the casino industry itself that creates more jobs. Once a location becomes a popular casino tourist destination, it has a knock-on effect in creating local jobs in other tourism sectors, such as bars, restaurants, shopping, entertainment, and guided tours. In addition to new job positions being created in other sectors, casino tourism helps other industries in the local community to thrive and expand.
Casino Tourism Boosts Tax Revenues
The local economy, and the economy at large, is significantly benefited by the billions of dollars that casino tourism brings in. And with a healthy economy, local communities and the country can prosper and grow into a stronger and more financially robust nation.
Casino Tourism Boosts Property Values
When an area becomes a casino hotspot for tourists, the value of the local property is boosted significantly. For instance, house prices in Vegas have been steadily increasing for some time, and continue to climb today.
