Las Vegas doesn't want to be known as an indoor city anymore-a place filled with casinos and hotels that bank on keeping gamblers and shoppers insulated with no windows or clocks, so they will continue spending cash on chips and alluring thrills.
In efforts to change their reputation, MGM Resorts International has told the press Thursday that it will put $100 million towards a new park located outside its New York-New York and Monte Carlo casinos.
Construction is set to begin in a few weeks, and will continue through 2014.
The park comes complete with a recreation of the Brooklyn Bridge, beer garden, and Shake Shack-a burger joint that has gained massive popularity in New York City.
MGM CEO Jim Murren told the Associated Press that visitors-especially young people in their early and mid 20s-don't want the same old experience sitting at a blackjack table.
"It's what customers were really excited about in the 80s and 90s-the convenience of being in a single environment when you could sample so many different kinds of entertainment," he said. "Tomorrow's consumer doesn't want that limitation. They are far more spontaneous."
Murren's drew inspiration from New York City's smaller parks, such as Madison Square Park, where visitors took leisurely strolls without overwhelming, massive expanse.
The park will lie on the famous intersection of Las Vegas Blvd. and Flamingo Ave., and will continue for ten acres.
The city's defining features are mostly indoors; even the Las Vegas strip exists merely to hold the many casinos, restaurants, and shops there. Blue skies and clouds painted on the ceilings decorate the interior, with changing colors to mimic the outside, and let patrons believe that all they need lies within.
But now, casino bosses think their guests need a breath of the outside air, and they consider this park one the best ways to take advantage of this new trend.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
