Las Vegas is set to get a bigger American-style version of one of London's popular tourist attractions, the London Eye.
Next month, Caesars Entertainment plans to start digging to lay the foundation for a 550-foot-tall observation wheel behind the company's Imperial Palace and Flamingo hotels that it expects to open toward the end of 2013.
Taller than the 443-foot-tall London Eye wheel, the High Roller could give the Las Vegas Strip a new attraction and a potential boost as the tourist destination continues to try to recover from the recession and holiday makers increase.
The announcement comes as Las Vegas shows signs that it's coming back. “It's had 16 consecutive months of increases in visitors”, says Rossi Ralenkotter, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
“Gaming revenue for the Strip in June was about 7% higher than in June 2008”, says David Schwatrz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, although hotel occupancy remains down.
The giant Ferris wheel will be the most visible part of a quarter-mile-long, $550 million, open-air entertainment district area called the Linq, which will include shops, restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
"It would be the centerpiece of a trip for a lot of people," Caesars CEO Gary Loveman says of the High Roller and the Linq. "They're looking for the next thing to do."
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