Las Vegas Needs to Lure Back Tourists, But Some Vow Never to Return

The Wrap

October 4, 2017

Las Vegas Needs to Lure Back Tourists, But Some Vow Never to Return

Harsh reality invades a place built on fantasy

Itay Hod

Karen Buling’s fifth trip to Las Vegas started with the sound of gunshots. Moments after she checked into the Luxor Hotel, she and her sister barricaded themselves into their room and prayed the person shooting at the country music festival across the street wouldn’t target them, too.

They turned out to be safe. But Buling said the allure of Vegas is gone for her. “It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through,” the Cleveland medical assistant told The Wrap. “I will not come back.”

Las Vegas is built on tourists’ dollars, and as it tries to recover from the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, it badly needs tourists like Buling to return. But for some of them, that is unthinkable.

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