Whether in the Elvis Presley years or in the heyday of 80s glam rock, Las Vegas has always acted shamelessly with nostalgia.
Right now, the city longs most for the days of 2019 – a time before the coronavirus pandemic plunged it into the most acute crisis in its 116-year history.
On Fremont Street, the historic center of Las Vegas’ golden era, you’d think Covid-19 never happened. A few hundred people crowd around a live music stage while a passable Bon Jovi cover roars.
At the front, Felicity Shoars, 21, cools off with a fan that bears the words “F * ck it” – her take on the pandemic, she says.
“The fun is worth the risk. We’re here for a good time. “
Around a bar in the iconic Golden Nugget, there is a similar determination to get back to normal. But there is also evidence of America’s unilateral response to the fight against Covid-19 and the divisions that allowed the Delta variant to prevail.
Christina and Kevin Engel, both 51 and from Baltimore, are here to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, although technically it’s now their 26th after postponing the trip last year. “We feel good,” says Christina, saying that she, her husband and her son were vaccinated as soon as possible.
Two seats down, Sandy Nelson, 58 and from Kentucky, explains the “all bullshit” pandemic. “I don’t plan to get vaccinated,” she says.
In the middle of it all is a 28-year-old bartender who says he’s hesitant about getting the vaccine, hinting at some of the disinformation that has spread online. He wants more of his customers to wear masks. “We have people from Florida, we have people from Texas,” he says. It was exhausting, he says, not to mention dangerous, “telling a drunk four to five times a day” to mask himself.
As of June 1, this was no longer necessary as Nevada’s Governor Steve Sisolak ended the state mask mandate for people gathering indoors. Now it works again.
“I know you are frustrated,” Sisolak, a Democrat, told a press conference last week after the number of cases rose. “So am I. The last thing I wanted was to get Nevada residents to put their masks back on.”
It was a step back, he argued, if not all the way back to first place. There would be no reintroduction of capacity constraints or other restrictions that caused visitors to crash during the worst days of the pandemic. In April 2020, the number of visitors fell to just 106,900 compared to around 3.5 million in the same month of 2019.
Last April, the number of visitors had rebounded to just over 2.5 million, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
But the Delta line is looming and threatens to ruin what some have predicted will become “Roaring 20s” for Las Vegas after Covid wins.
From April through June, the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip recorded their highest gaming revenue since 2006, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, although international tourists who stay longer and spend more are not yet expected to return.
The money flowing into slot machines – the socially distant gambling option – has never been higher.
Adding the casinos across the state together, the house hit a monthly record of $ 1.23 billion in May.
“I didn’t see it coming,” said Michael Lawton, senior business analyst for the gaming board. “It was a really drastic fall, but it seems to be going to be a really drastic climb from where we have been.”
The return of business guests, who normally stay on the rest days from Sunday to Thursday, has still lagged behind.
Casinos across Nevada hit a monthly record of $ 1.23 billion in May © David Becker / Getty Images
In early June, the return of the World of Concrete was the first major trade show since the pandemic began – not just in Vegas, but across the country. It has attracted “tens of thousands” of guests, said the organizers, which is seen as a turning point here.
“The exhibitors are very excited,” said Lori Nelson-Kraft, LVCVA’s head of communications. “You get highly qualified attendees and deals are closed. But the number of visitors will only look lower until the economy recovers completely. “
This recovery will require a returning workforce. As in many places in the US, staff shortages have also weighed on Vegas, where presentation art often obscures the Herculean logistical efforts that go on behind the scenes.
In many hotels this means that restaurants have shorter opening times and fewer tables. In a city that is mostly inaccessible on foot – where the temperatures are regularly over 40 degrees Celsius – taxi stands are often empty and carpooling can require waiting times of 20 minutes and more – if a car can be located at all.
The Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno, blames the resorts for the shortage and not, as others have suggested, for the effects of economic controls or safety concerns.
“It’s not because there is a shortage of workers who want to work,” says Bethany Khan, the union’s chief of communications for the Local 266 Chapter. “But the companies haven’t called the workers back to work.”
Basic health enforcement is difficult in Las Vegas, an economy based on bringing people together at craps tables, shows, or nightclubs.
Trying to institute strict distancing and extra disinfection risks removing some of the Vegas spirit, though you may see some valiant efforts. At the Westgate Resort, where Barry Manilow has upcoming shows, guests are encouraged to wash their hands for as long as it takes to sing a chorus of “Copacabana”.
If the city manages to avert another shutdown, locals will be optimistic about its future. Several new projects went unchecked during the pandemic, including the opening of a 60,000-seat stadium that now houses the Las Vegas Raiders soccer team, which recently relocated from Oakland.
And on Fremont Street, the glittering, adult-only Circa Hotel opened in October as the first new purpose-built casino in “historic” Vegas in about 40 years. It’s already a huge hit, at least among those who can visit. This FT reporter’s UK ID was the first the doorman had seen. Until the world’s parties return, the Roaring 20s will be put on hold in Vegas.
