TALKINTRAVEL™

Vegas Gambles on Asian Visitors By: Ruth & Rich Carlson/www.talkintravel.com
 
Las Vegas…it’s been called Disneyland for adults. Where else can you ride a roller coaster overlooking the strip, see an erotic Cirque du Soleil performance, and the average person can dance on a nightclub tabletop while paparazzi snap your photo and post it on Internet sites? Although Las Vegas could only be created in the United States, there’s an Easterly breeze blowing through this desert oasis. Like most things in "sin city," it’s all about money. The Venetian (www.venetian.com) says 80% of their “whales” (high rollers) are Asian. “The vast majority of our international gaming market is comprised of guests who reside in the Far East – primarily Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea,“ says Greg Shulman, Vice President of International Marketing for MGM MIRAGE (www.mirage.com). According to the OTTI, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, Vegas has half a million visitors from Asian countries but many experts believe the number is probably much higher. "Many of our Asian customers stop in San Francisco or Vancouver first so it's tough to track them," says Rafael Villanueva, Director of International Sales, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, LVCVA, (www.visitlasvegas.com). In addition, it’s optional for planes to ask passengers to fill out surveys on their country of origin. “Historically international travelers have accounted for about 13 percent of our business, says Kristopher Tibbs, Senior Research Analyst, LVCVA. Last year, South Korea, China and Hong Kong topped the list of Asian visitors. LVCVA even has offices in Japan, China and Korea, mainly to arrange group travel. “Our goal is to increase international visitation by 15% and of course Asia and especially China is on our radar screen. Our overall goal is to reach 43 million plus visitors annually by the end of the decade and there are huge growth opportunities in Asia,” says Tibbs. Korea is currently the only Asian country with a non-stop flight to Las Vegas but the McCarran International Airport is currently negotiating to add more terminals for Asian flights, according to Chris Jones, spokesperson. “The number of Asian visitors to Vegas goes through cycles,” says David G. Schwartz, Director, Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (http://gaming.unlv.edu). “At one point it was the Japanese, then Hong Kong and Taiwan. Thanks to a growing middle class and more lenient visa laws, the Chinese are now traveling in record numbers and Vegas is a top destination.” To attract Asian visitors, Vegas is rolling out the red carpet with special services, feng shui considerations and bilingual experts on staff. Tourism authorities want to makes sure the Chinese feel welcome and “…we have a big learning curve,” admits Villanueva. “What works in America doesn’t always translate overseas.” The LVCVA has a free diversity handbook, a guide welcoming minorities to Las Vegas. “It’s a resource to provide information for American Indians, Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino and Americans with disabilities,” says Alicia Malone, LVCVA spokesperson. “It gives cultural and organizational information, an ethnic dining guide, a historical timeline of notable ethnic celebrities who have contributed to Las Vegas, and information about the arts and museums.” Vegas has always catered to Asian tourists but it has gotten more sophisticated in recent years, according to Schwartz. “The difference is that Vegas leaders are listening more and getting Asian experts in on the ground floor. Hotels now have people in their organizations sensitive to Asian sensibilities and now it’s more visible.” For instance many hotel elevators don’t have a button for the 4th floor because that number is considered unlucky in many Asian cultures and they play up the number 8, which is linked to prosperity in the East. The Wynn Las Vegas Resort (www.wynnlasvegas.com) has a restaurant called Red 8, a jackpot for Asians who also consider the color red good fortune and they recently added an Asian gambling pit 8. “You see the number 8 turning up a lot,” says Schwartz. “Wynn went out of its way to appeal to Asian visitors,” observes Schwartz, who credits that attention to one of the Resort’s principal backers, Kazu Okada, who has a restaurant named after him at the hotel. “The Wynn Resort has an international flavor with Eastern-inspired art throughout the grounds. Lions guarding the hotel entrance are exact replicas of two lions in front of the Bank of Shanghai. It would be like Americans seeing a replica of the Washington monument overseas; they want Asians to feel at home,” Schwartz comments. “Steve Wynn jokes that the East is becoming so powerful that soon his corporation will be known as an Asian company with a location in Las Vegas.” The Venetian has built a VIP lounge filled with Asian artwork. TVs are tuned to Chinese stations, newspapers have Chinese characters, and a Shiatsu masseuse is on call to work out the kinks in gambler’s necks and shoulders. Since many Asian gamblers prefer tea to alcohol, the Venetian serves hot beverages that can be as expensive and complex as fine wines. “Tea Masters,” who undergo a seven-year program in China, are becoming as common as scantily clad waitresses who take drink orders. Wheeling a traditional teak cart to the tables, they serve a range of teas that can be compared to fine wine in price, complexity and even mind-altering effects. One cup of tea can have the same amount of caffeine as 6 cups of coffee and experts claim strong tea can make you feel drunk. At least 20 varieties of teas are offered to gamblers with the most expensive costing a whopping $260 dollars an ounce. Tea Masters re-use the same clay pot because they believe the residue that develops over the years enhances the flavor. The varieties range from flowers that bloom in boiling water to teas with a bittersweet chocolate taste. While flowing water is believed to be good feng shui, tea masters avoid having the nozzle face the player…it’s considered bad luck. The new Orchid restaurant at the Venetian offers exotic Asian delicacies such as shark fin and bird’s nest soups, and abalone. Chef Simon To is an inductee and Honorary Chairman of the exclusive Les Amis d’Escoffier Society of China. The new Palazzo Resort has an extensive noodle bar called Jade next to the gaming tables so high rollers don’t have to go far for Asian food. “Noodle bars are the Caucasian equivalent of comfort food,” says Schwartz. “Instead of a corn beef and rye sandwich at midnight during an all-night poker game, the Chinese like a big bowl of noodles.” In addition to their food preferences, Asians have gaming favorites according to Schwartz’s research. “Generally they like card games and baccarat. They don’t like dice games. When I asked people in Macau why they don’t play craps they sneered, they consider it cheap.” Schwartz says people gamble in India but it’s not as popular as in other Asian countries. “The middle-eastern high rollers were fixtures in Vegas during the 70’s and 80’s because there are few casinos in Arab countries,” says Schwartz. “According to the Koran, gambling is the handiwork of Satan.” While he says poker is popular with Vietnamese, “…the Japanese don’t like to play the card game because you can look like a coward if you don’t call a bluff and they don’t want to `lose face.’“ Asian Americans are also a growing market for Las Vegas. The Gaming Institute’s research indicates that Asian immigrants gamble whether they are well off or not. “Vegas doesn’t see many people from Cambodia and Vietnam, but a lot of Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrants visit,” says Schwartz. He conjectures that Asian immigrants are big gamblers because they are already risk takers. “If you took the huge leap of faith to leave your country, you have a risk-seeking personality,” he believes. Alan Chen, whose father developed Las Vegas Chinatown, agrees. “My father took a big chance coming to the U.S.,” says Chen, “So he encouraged me to take risks, whether at the gambling table or starting a business.” Chen owns the Emperor’s Table restaurant in Chinatown Plaza. The only master-planned Chinatown in the U.S, Chinatown Plaza (www.lvchinatown.com) is a shopping center that’s also a small cultural exhibit for all Asian cultures. Signs, scattered throughout the complex, contain factual information about Far East art and history. It’s the only place in Nevada to find a Chinese bookstore and it has the largest Asian supermarket in the city, as well as a Chinese herb shop and jade store. “Most Chinatowns just sprang up from having a big population of Asians,” says Chen. “My father James came here 15 years ago and realized there was very little Chinese food off the strip, so he called his friends from high school in Taiwan and they opened restaurants. When we started, people were afraid of authentic food, but now every kind of Asian restaurant is popular. We have Cantonese, Hong Kong, Vietnamese, Filipino, Szechwan, Shanghai, and recently Korean. They are increasingly moving here from southern California and opening up barbeque grills.” Vegas has come a long way in comprehending the Asian mindset. When the MGM Grand opened, the owners thought it would be the ultimate in kitsch to have guests walk through the mouth of a lion, replicating the MGM movie logo. After complaints from Asians who said walking into a lion’s mouth was akin to losing money, they moved the entrance to a more feng shui friendly location and constructed a traditional door. Now the local newspaper, The Review Journal, has an entire section dedicated to Asian food and nightlife. “The Bellagio (www.bellagio.com) caters to its Asian tourists with fan tan and pachinko games,” says Cynthia Robins, a freelance writer/jewelry designer who relocated from San Francisco to Vegas. Many of the most popular nightclubs are Asian inspired; Tao, where food is served family style and celebrities are spotted signing autographs while sipping taotinis, the Palms Little Buddha, a replica of the famed Buddha Bar in Paris, and Shintaro at Bellagio, which critics are calling “out of this world,” due in part to a sushi bar with a dramatic, kaleidoscopic display of live jellyfish. The largest Benihana in the United States is located in the Las Vegas Hilton (www.lvhilton.com) and the hotel’s Benihana Village has a Noodle Bar called 888. Vegas is also popular with Hawaiians since gambling is not allowed on the Islands. Evonne Wong, Owner of Events by Evonne, in Maui, visits Vegas three to four times a year. “I love going to Vegas because there's so much to do there... you can gamble, watch a show, eat and shop. There's literally everything for everyone. It seems like Vegas used to be more family-oriented, but during my last trip everything was very chic and upscale... from the restaurants to the clubs to the shops.” She prefers hotels and casinos that offer Pan-Asian cuisine. “I don't really gamble all that much, but whenever I see a cool Black Jack table or Roulette table, I’ll play a few hands.” Bob Yoshida, with Pacific Capital Lending, in Orange County, California, has numerous relatives in Hawaii who love Vegas. “They all stay at the California Hotel (www.thecal.com) downtown because they cater to Hawaiians with restaurants like Dave’s Aloha Grill,” he says. Yoshida, a third generation American who calls himself a banana, yellow on the outside and white on the inside, says he practically grew up in Circus Circus, a casino with a special section just for kids. “My dad would give me a roll of quarters and tell me he’d be back to get me for dinner. I loved it and couldn’t wait until I was old enough to gamble for real. Now I go to Vegas as often as I can. Gambling is in our blood. We’ll bet on anything. My father and his seven siblings live in the Los Angeles area and get together often to take a bus tour to Vegas. They only stay for 24 hours and it takes four and half hours to get there!” If Asians can’t come to Vegas, Vegas is going to them. A few years ago, the Sands and Wynn Resorts opened large Las Vegas-style casinos in Macao, the former Portuguese colony that is the only place in China where gambling is legal. The $2.4 billion Venetian Macao is the largest single structure hotel in Asia and the second largest building in the world. Last year, Macao surpassed the Las Vegas Strip to become the world’s largest gambling center. Instead of taking away business from Vegas, so far Macau has surprisingly helped the Strip. “Macau is getting China residents more familiar with casino gambling so they want to see where it all started…in Las Vegas,” says Schwartz. “After sampling a bit of Americana they want to visit the real thing,” agrees Villanueveo. Schwartz visited Macau and said the main differences he saw between the two tourist spots is the emphasis on gambling in Macau. “There are more big spenders and fewer players at slot machines,” he says. Incidentally, to win at the slots you need lucky 8’s not 7’s like in the U.S. One slot machine that’s popular in Macau is the hexbreaker. “It has symbols Americans consider bad luck like broken mirrors, sidewalk cracks and spilled salt,” says Schwartz. “When I told Asians this was unlucky they looked at me like I was crazy and said no it’s not.” What they considered unlucky was a book Schwartz was carrying. “I had to check my novel at the casino door because books are considered unlucky. In Chinese, the word sounds familiar to death.” Schwartz was also surprised to see waitresses who were carrying space-age looking tanks on their backs instead of drink trays. “I asked someone what the weird contraption was and they said it held hot tea.” The Vegas outlets in Macau are starting to introduce shows and high-end restaurants and it remains to be seen if they will be popular with this market. Besides gambling, Asians believe in spending their money on lavish weddings and Las Vegas is the most popular spot in the world to get hitched. Wedding planners are betting 8-8-08 may become the busiest date to tie the knot. The day before, February 7, is Chinese New Year. Many of the holiday’s festivities are free…the only sure way to be a winner in Las Vegas. -END- Getting there: If you like to support Asian businesses, consider booking your flight to Vegas on Aloha airlines (www.alohaairlines.com). It began after World War II when mainland airlines would not hire Hawaiian pilots and mechanics. Using money invested by the local community, Ruddy Teng hired his friends to start Aloha Airlines and Vegas is one of their busiest locations.