The rodeo has turned that around. One only has to scan the cavalcade of country-western stars converging on Las Vegas to see Powers' point. They include Pam Tillis at Boomtown, Trace Adkins and Sammy Kershaw at Boulder Station, Martina McBride at Desert Inn, and Patty Loveless, Deana Carter and Randy Travis at the Las Vegas Hilton. There will also be Alabama at The Mirage, Charlie Daniels Band at Imperial Palace, Diamond Rio and Clay Walker at The Orleans, and Terri Clark at the Rio. He said the occupancy rate is impressive when compared to 1991, when it was 75 percent for the same period.
Special events are important in increasing our occupancy.
No one knows for sure how many tourists attend the rodeo. There are 17,000 sold-out seats for each of the 10 event days for a total capacity of 170,000. The tourism number is difficult to calculate because many fans attend more than one performance, but the convention authority intends to find out through its first-ever rodeo market survey in the coming week. The event is also attracting journalists from Europe, Brazil, and Canada, as well as from newspapers in Oklahoma and Texas. There are 119 competitors this year.