THE GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE ON TOURISM, for the
first time in its 20year history, will offer continuing education
units to attendees. The conference will be held Dec. 15 to 17 at
Caesars Palace. Delegates can get a continuing-education-unit form
at the conference's registration desk. Then it can be mailed to the
University of Nevada-Las Vegas to obtain a certificate verifying
that that the conference participant will receive their continuing-
education units. Through Nov. 1, conference registration for
delegates will cost $345; after that date, the price increases to
$390. Registration is available at www.travelnevada.com.
THE STRATOSPHERE CASINO HOTEL AND TOWER plans
to debut it newest thrill ride, X-Scream, on Oct. 30--just in time
for the scariest night of the year, Halloween. The attraction
consists of an open, floorless vehicle that is catapulted 31 feet
over the edge of the tower, which rises almost 900 feet above the
Las Vegas Strip.
DOLLAR THRIFTY AUTOMOTIVE GROUP'S corporate
operations unit agreed to acquire Thrifty Car Rental's Las Vegas
franchise operations, which will add approximately 1,950 vehicles
to Dollar Thrifty's corporate operations. Terms of the deal were
not disclosed, but the acquisition, which will be effective Nov. 1,
will include a Thrifty location at McCarran Int'l Airport as well
as a recently remodeled service and rental facility on Rent-A-Car
Road.
TRAVELOCITY now features in its merchant hotel
program each of Mandalay Bay Resort Group's five Las Vegas
properties. Travelocity is the only major online travel service to
do so, according to the company. This means that visitors to www.travelocity.com can access hotel rates as well as
air and hotel packages for Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Luxor,
Monte Carlo Resort & Casino, Excalibur Hotel-Casino and Circus
Circus Hotel Resort & Casino.
MANDALAY PLACE, meanwhile, is releasing the
names of more occupants. Slated to open in October, the
100,000-square-foot shopping venue is inside a sky bridge that
connects the Mandalay Bay Resort Casino and the Luxor. Mandalay
Place will feature The Burger Joint and Caf... Giorgio as well as
specialty stores such as 55 Degrees Wine + Design, the Art of
Shaving Shops & Barber Spa, the Chocolate Swan, Davidoff,
Lunettes, Mulholland, Forever Silver, Portico, and Le Paradis Fine
Jewelry.
SPEAKING OF SHOPPING...the Strip is going
tropical in February. That's when the $140 million Hawaiian
Marketplace--modeled after the famous Int'l Marketplace on Waikiki
Beach--is scheduled to open. The 80,000-square-foot,
Polynesian-themed shopping and entertainment venue is on Las Vegas
Boulevard at the site of the former Polo Plaza shopping center in
front of the Polo Towers. That's just south of Harmon Avenue and
within walking distance of the Bellagio and MGM Grand Hotel and
Casino. The mall will feature a 17-foot-tall statue of King
Kamehameha the Great, a man-made banyan tree, a fountain, tiki
statues and grass shacks. Among the retailers that will be located
there are Hawaiian Tropics, The Stogie Shop, Zebra Shoes and Stitch
It On.