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REPRODUCED FROM: E . E. B . MAR 8 1956 Port III—WED., FEB. 29,1956 * * MIRROR-NEWS BY BOB BERGEN Mirror-News Business Editor Reports last year had Las Vegas vir­tually folding up. L: Now, with the 1955 figures in, the “re ports” are folding. It was not a good year, in terms of the .usual economic indicators—it was a record breaker. ff The number of tourist visitors and tourist spending, for example, both;were up 15%. This came to light in an exhaustive report, compiled by ' th^city’s Campbell Realty. Co., in an effort to learn, whether .things were really as bad as had been outlined in some of the national magazines. Said Thomas,A. Campbell, head of the firm: “It offers in disputable evidence that the area is still very definitely on the uptrend,” Included were such significant tourist indexes as air travel, up 43% from 1954; vistors to Lake Mead and 1 Hoover Dam, up 26.6%. Most of the publicity that had the Las Vegas “bubble” bursting hinged on the closing of three recently completed hotels. Analysis of the situation, according to Campbell, in­dicates that they did not close from lack of business. MISMANAGEMENT BLAMED He blamed a combination of mismanagement, inexperi­ence, insufficient capital at inception and excessive enter­tainment costs, This, translated, simply means that competition finally has caught up with Las Vegas. The experienced and more businesslike operators don't seem to be worrying. Last month, following the shutdown M A N Y R ESP O N SIB LE P U B LIC A T IO N S T H R O U G H O U T THE C O U N T R Y ARE N O W T A K IN G A C L O S E R L O O K A T THE F A C T U A L STATE O F THE LAS V E G A S AREA E C O N O M Y . THIS IS A T Y P IC A L EX A M PLE of the marginal property, two of the old-timers announced expansion programs. Hotel Sahara will spend $3,500,000 on 300 additional rooms and remodeling; Riviera Hotel will spend $2,000,000 for 200 additional rooms and other en largement of facilities. This construction, incidentally, is part of a $50,054,- 000 building program scheduled for the Las Vegas area this year. Over 50% of last year’s total was residential; only J7% went into'-facilities catering to the resort trade. . Total tourist spending last year was over $160,000,000- up more than $20,000,000 from 1954 or a gain of about 15%. Some $65,500,000*of this came from 4,50ty,000 visitors to resort and commercial hotels and to the motels. They dropped about $60,000,000 at the gambling tables, spent $9,500,000 on liquor and an estimated $25,000,000 at retail. RETAIL SALES UP 15% . The $60,000,000 gambling take is based on preliminary fig­ures released by the Nevada Gambling Control Board. It represents a $10,000,000 increase, or about 20%, from 1954. Other economic indicators: bank deposits were up 2.21%; employment in all classifications except military stands at 38,355, up 13.4%; 22,985 marriages (a sizable “industry” there) were performed during the year, an increase of 10.8%. Retail sales for the city totaled '$163,112,640, a $21,- 000,000 gain, up 15%. About the only thing that is- down in Las Vegas are the businessmen on writers unversed in economics. Reorganization of three hotel propei’ties, they claim, does not make a ghost town out of a city. #0 0 2 -0