World Tourism Blog

Ahh … the single life. Freedom to do what you want, how you want, when you want — but if all that alone time is getting a bit, well, lonely, head to one of the places we’ve picked as tops for vacationing singles looking to pair up, hook up, or shack up this Valentine’s Day and beyond.

Meet your match while dancing the tango, have a date with a power-hungry politician-in-training, or hit the high seas with similarly uncoupled shipmates — whatever you’re into and whoever you’re looking for, your chances of a successful love match increase with every visit to one of our singles vacation destinations.

Amsterdam

Singles set off to freewheeling Amsterdam in droves for the ultimate in boys-being-boys and girls-gone-wild escapades, mesmerized by the city’s free-thinking, live-and-let-live mantra.

With a Dutch policy structured on controlling what it can’t efficiently outlaw, illegalized American no-nos like marijuana (widely available in Amsterdam’s ubiquitous coffeeshops) and even prostitution (witness the notorious Red Light District) are both permitted and regulated here.

Should you find a fellow single that piques your interest away from the debauchery, start your love affair with a hand-in-hand stroll along the 1,000-plus bridges that span the city’s 160 canals.

At Sea

While cruising has long been regarded as a couples sport, the tides are now turning, with many singles looking to meet their mate on the high seas.

Carnival and Royal Caribbean boast a party atmosphere and attract lots of unattached cruisers, while cruise consolidators like

VacationsToGo.com host a handful of singles-only voyages throughout the year to destinations like the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Alaska.

Though most all cruise ships host singles mixers during the first day or two, special singles vacation theme cruises like these are gaining popularity and are a guarantee for meeting other travelers looking for love.

What’s more, Norwegian’s new Epic, setting sail in July 2010, will feature the industry’s first studios designed and priced for solo travelers. While single occupancy cabins on other lines are either nonexistent or cost significantly more than doubles, the Epic’s 128 posh staterooms (all with full-size beds) start from just $799 for 7-night itineraries.

Buenos Aires

Beautiful and bountiful characterizes the singles scene in cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ToursGoneWild.com, a guide for singles on the move, offers packages with VIP perks to the best A-list clubs, but even if you don’t luck out with one of the stunning models that frequent them, there’s still plenty of opportunity to meet a fellow single.

The popularity of the tango means lots of willing dance partners in Buenos Aires are looking to pair up, and we can’t think of a better way to forge a romance than while dancing one of the world’s most seductive dances. Even if you come home alone, knowing a few tango moves will certainly be advantageous in your next love affair.

Juneau

Legend has it that men outnumber women 2-to-1 in Alaska — and although actual census data doesn’t give the ladies quite such odds, it’s nonetheless true that more men than women do live in the 49th state.

Burly outdoorsmen who can build a cozy fire (without Duraflame) and take on a grizzly abound, particularly in “bush Alaska” where miners, trappers, and fishermen live.

City gals who love fur hats and lipstick equally, however, can descend on the capital at Juneau, for a singles vacation with a bit of cosmopolitan flair. Not only are political powerhouses also on the scene, but ample restaurants, galleries, and watering holes are on hand to make the setting for a great first date.

Las Vegas

With a motto like “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” it’s no surprise that Sin City is rife with opportunities to misbehave.

Single guys and gals flock here from around the globe, many in town for the hedonistic tradition of the bachelor / bachelorette party and looking for love (though perhaps of the one-night variety).

There’s always a chance that you’ll meet that special someone and cap off the night with a spontaneous walk down the aisle of a famed Vegas chapel. The nightlife is legendary — from bars and clubs to strip joints and cabarets — so whether or not you manage to hook up here, a good time is guaranteed.

Miami

With a reputation for bikinis, beaches, and beautiful bodies, a visit to Miami, Florida is sure to put you in the mood for love, or at least a fling.

But it’s not just sun and sand — Miami is also a diverse, cosmopolitan city with plenty of options for a singles vacation. Try salsa lessons to pick up some dance moves (as well as a date), check out the thriving gay scene, visit a bookstore with music and readings if you’re literary-minded, and hit the dance clubs to rub shoulders with celebrities.

The culturally inclined can also check out the newly hip galleries and art scene — perfect for chatting up artsy types.

New York

If you’re on the lookout for a lady with style, sophistication, and street smarts, New York is the obvious place to start your search.

Gentlemen take note, the world’s culture capital is brimming with single ladies — National Geographic claimed (in 2007) that there are 185,000 more available women than men in the New York metro area! No wonder those gals from “Sex and the City” had such a hard time finding guys!

There’s no shortage of nightlife spots where you might meet that special someone, and with a lifetime’s worth of restaurants, museums, concerts, and so much more, you’ll never have to go on same date twice.

Rome

Ciao bella (hello beautiful). It’s easy to feel like Sylvia in Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” when showered with attention from Italian men in Rome.

This dark and handsome breed flirts just as often and as naturally as he breathes and American women may find it hard to resist his charming swagger and poetic whispers. Compliments and stares aside, Italian men, if given the chance, will woo their ladylove over Chianti and carbonara under starry skies on the Piazza Navona.

And whether or not you find eternal love in the Eternal City, you’re bound to get a taste of la dolce vita while on a singles vacation here — and perhaps a fling with your very own Casanova.

Tokyo

Renting hotel rooms by the hour is certainly no foreign concept, but when you do it in Tokyo, it’s definitely (slightly) less sleazy.

In a city where privacy is at a premium, couples in search of some alone time visit one of the city’s Love Hotels (also called couples’ hotels), mostly found in the Shibuya district.

Recognizable by their hourly and overnight rates — often posted outside — the emphasis here is on discretion: rooms are typically selected via push button, keys arrive via pneumatic tube or clerk behind dark glass, and multiple hotel exits facilitate clandestine escapes.

Rooms, meanwhile, are decked out with everything from mirrored ceilings to bathtubs for two — and even karaoke on demand. If you’re a singleton on the prowl in Tokyo, you shouldn’t have a problem finding someone to share the experience with you.

Washington, D.C.

Henry Kissinger once said “power is the greatest aphrodisiac,” and if you subscribe to that theory, there’s no better place for a singles vacation than Washington, D.C., where love and politics converge.

Democrats and Republicans alike debate (and flirt) over drinks everywhere from intimate lounges to rowdy sports bars, while the capital’s monuments and museums make for romantic backdrops when lit up at night.

With a tantalizing mix of transplants from all over the U.S. and abroad, you’re sure to make some interesting — and hopefully high-powered — connections. Home Security Systems.

Celine Dion is returning to the Las Vegas Strip in 2011 to begin a three-year run at Caesars Palace.

The Grammy award-winning singer announced Wednesday she’ll return to the 4,300-seat Colosseum, home of her previous show, “A New Day.” It grossed more than $400 million and was seen by nearly 3 million fans over five years before closing in December 2007.

The new show begins March 15, 2011, with tickets for the first 54 performances going on sale Friday. Officials say ticket prices will range from $55 to $250 before taxes and fees.

Dion says the new show will feature songs ranging from timeless classics to fan favorites, with a concept incorporating the romance of classic movies.

“It’s going to be a very beautiful show, and I think we’ll be raising the bar higher than we’ve ever done before,” Dion said in a statement. “There’ll be some truly wonderful moments.”

The 41-year-old Canadian singer spent a year on an international tour after her previous Las Vegas show ended, and plans to spend the year before her Sin City return with her family.

Dion is the youngest of 14 children in a musical family. She sang publicly for the first time at age 5, and released her first two albums simultaneously when she was 13.

Dion has since sold more than 200 million albums worldwide and won five Grammy awards.

Two songs recorded by Dion have won Academy Awards for best original song, including the title song of “Beauty and the Beast” and “My Heart Will Go On” from “Titanic.” Home Security Systems.

Visitors by the thousand streamed into the newest casino-resort on the Las Vegas strip early Thursday, an influx that casino officials hope will help yank Sin City from its two-year economic funk.

Fireworks and fanfare inaugurated the official launch of the Aria Resort & Casino, the 4,000-room, 61-story centerpiece of the $8.5 billion CityCenter complex. Crowds began swarming through the doors around midnight, welcomed with cheers and dozens of photographers snapping pictures. Models stood at aisleways and casino executives greeted guests, and hundreds got a preview of an Elvis-themed Cirque du Soleil show to debut in February.

“It’s beautiful,” said 73-year-old retiree Bernard Bouley of Saint Jerome, Canada, about 30 miles from Montreal.

Bouley waited for the opening with a friend in a small park outside the Crystals mall, peering inside the doors to Aria’s lobby and glancing at the colorful fountains outside the resort’s main valet.

MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren said that while many experts thought CityCenter would never open, its employees drove the company to make sure it carried through on grand design.

“It was because of (the employees) that we got here, and the promise of 12,000 people that wanted to work hard to provide for their families,” Murren told The Associated Press. “It was that promise — that we didn’t want to let them down — that got us here.”

About 5,000 VIPs began entering Aria after 6 p.m. for a gala, greeted by smiling cocktail servers with trays of Dom Perignon champagne and displays of hors d’oeuvres of caviar, seafood and other savory treats.

“This is really 21st century Las Vegas,” said architect Cesar Pelli, whose team designed Aria. “This is really setting up very high standards that will be very hard to match — but I hope they will try.”

Earlier Wednesday, CityCenter owners MGM Mirage and Dubai World thanked architects, employees and each other at a morning ceremony.

Murren, flanked by executives and employees of the Las Vegas-based company, then rang a bell used for prizefights at the MGM Grand to remotely close the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of MGM Mirage were unchanged at $10.35 Wednesday.

A Nevada gambling regulator last month likened CityCenter’s development to a 12-round boxing match, with the opening signifying its midpoint.

“I think clearly that that was the seventh-round bell. Our foe is weakening,” Murren told the AP after hammering the bell 56 times. “Our foe — the economy, the recession, the financial crisis — our opponent is now the one that’s close to its knees, and we’re just gaining momentum and gaining strength.”

As CityCenter begins operating, it’s now up to its 12,000 employees to deliver an entertaining, exciting environment that makes guest want to keep coming back, Murren said.

Aria’s rooms, along with those at CityCenter’s Mandarin Oriental and Vdara hotels, increase room capacity on the Las Vegas Strip by 8.5 percent, UBS Investment Research analyst Robin Farley said.

Murren said investors have wondered whether CityCenter would finish, and now they want to know whether it can be successful in this economy without cannibalizing its other resorts.

Like many other businesses, the Las Vegas gambling industry has been hit by the economic downturn. Casino officials are hoping the Aria with its size and glamour can help put customers back in the game.

MGM Mirage owns the most casinos on the Strip, but Murren believes CityCenter will help, not hurt, the company’s other resorts.

The room increase has competitors worried, as visitation to Las Vegas has decreased in the past two years as consumers spent less time and money traveling and gambling.

On Tuesday, a representative of the venerable Sahara hotel-casino less than three miles from CityCenter said it would shutter two of its towers until demand improves. A day earlier, Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel in downtown Las Vegas closed its 365 guest rooms and cut 100 jobs to cut costs. Hard money training.

The first new hotel opened at the CityCenter development on the Las Vegas Strip. Vdara, a hotel with nearly 1,500 rooms, was unveiled to the public on Tuesday, and is the first property of the $8.5 billion CityCenter project to open.

The unveiling Tuesday of the nearly 1,500-room Vdara hotel marks the start of a phased opening of the $8.5 billion project built by development partners MGM Mirage and Dubai World.

The Crystals retail shopping mall opens Thursday. The 392-room Mandarin Oriental opens Saturday. The centerpiece Aria hotel-casino opens Dec. 16 with about 4,000 rooms.

Vdara is a 57-story, non-gambling, nonsmoking condominium hotel connected with other CityCenter features and the plush fountain-front Bellagio hotel next door. Bellagio is also owned by MGM Mirage.

Dubai World is the investment arm of the Dubai government. Hard money training.

Sin City is pinning its biggest bet ever — $8.5 billion — on a 67-acre, six-tower complex of striking hotels, gourmet restaurants, swank shops and a single casino that starts opening Tuesday in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.

Many watching the high-stakes roll of the dice shudder at the thought that nearly 5,900 rooms in three hotels will be awaiting guests when CityCenter’s crown jewel — the 4,004-room Aria Resort & Casino — opens Dec. 16. That will increase Las Vegas’ already saturated inventory by more than 4 percent at a time when fewer visitors are coming and room prices have fallen 25 percent from last year.

CityCenter’s debut might pull rates even lower, but state leaders hope the complex leads Nevada out of two years of economic misery that has hit the state with record unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies.

“We’re in a 12-round fight. The first six rounds, you guys got beat up,” Tony Alamo of the Nevada Gaming Commission told CityCenter owners MGM Mirage and Dubai World when Aria’s license was approved.

“We’re putting all our eggs in the `grow-the-market’ basket. I would be lying to you if I wasn’t concerned — that’s a reality,” he said. “This is not just the company, it’s the state.”

When The Mirage opened in 1989, it launched two decades of expansion that more than doubled the number of rooms in Las Vegas to some 141,000 today. A record 39.2 million visitors came to Sin City in 2007, but that dropped to 37.5 million last year as the recession kept many people away.

Sin City’s rapid growth came to a halt, crippling casinos and construction, the state’s two largest industries. Nevada’s unemployment hit a record 13.3 percent in September.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, most of about 40 projects that have been proposed or started haven’t determined completion dates.

Construction started on three projects that would add 9,390 rooms to the Strip, but Boyd Gaming’s $4.8 billion Echelon, the Fontainebleau Las Vegas and an addition at Caesars Palace are all on hold. The $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan casino-resort is scheduled to open next to CityCenter in September 2010, but it’s now owned by Deutsche Bank after the developers fell into foreclosure.

Phil Ruffin, who owns the Treasure Island casino-resort about 1 1/2 miles north of CityCenter, said new hotels have historically helped tourism but CityCenter is opening into unprecedented economic circumstances.

“It’s going to be bloody out there,” the Kansas billionaire told The Associated Press. “We wish them all the success in the world because it would help the whole city of Las Vegas, but I can’t think of a worse time to open up 7,000 rooms.”

Including condominiums, CityCenter will have nearly 6,800 units open early next year with 400 more hotel rooms planned.

While marketed to high-end customers, rates for a room at CityCenter on Dec. 20 start at $129 at the boutique Vdara, $149 at anchor resort Aria and $345 at the luxury Mandarin Oriental.

Ruffin said tourism likely won’t improve substantially until unemployment drops nationally. Others fear that even when the economy improves, visitors won’t spend as freely as they did before the downturn.

CityCenter has had anything but a smooth trip to completion. In the five years from the drawing board to its final touches, its funding nearly lapsed, MGM Mirage and Dubai World fought in court, and six construction workers died.

Ruffin bought Treasure Island for $775 million and took over in March, giving MGM Mirage a cash infusion to help it survive and finish building its massive complex.

MGM Mirage and Dubai World each have billions in debt, and Dubai World last week asked creditors for a six-month break from payments on the $60 billion it owes creditors. MGM Mirage officials say the standstill won’t affect CityCenter; the partners agreed with banks in April to fully fund and finish the project. MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said the agreement includes cross-default language that protects the company against any issues at Dubai World.

The result is 18 million square feet in six soaring glass towers and a retail promenade, all built to give visitors a sense of its enormous scale. Each building has gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Hard money training.

Most of America knows the strip mall as that random and anonymous assortment of chain stores, outlets, and fast food joints given cohesion by its giant parking lot, and anchored by its Starbucks. Rarely do we think of it as a natural cache for a city’s culinary genius.

Yet strip malls are precisely where you’ll find some of the most surprising—and best—cuisine in Las Vegas.

The gastronomes and food critics who now glut Las Vegas—all fiercely proud of their knowledge of the city’s “locals only” restaurants—will advise you to forget the big-name chefs for at least a few meals during your visit. Sure, the big names are all here; you can sample their food both on the Strip and from the trademarked boxes in the frozen foods section of your local grocery.

But head off the Strip, and you’re more likely to find chefs actually in their kitchens and changing Las Vegas from a town that relies on its chefs’ marquee names to a city that really cooks. Hard money training.

While much has been made of CityCenter’s difficult birth, far less attention has been paid to the design behind it. It’s a design that speaks in equal parts to the challenges of the Las Vegas Strip, the unsustainable sprawl of the Las Vegas Valley (now home to 2 million people) and a fundamental shift in American demographics.

“After 30 years of suburban flight, people are moving back into the urban core,” says Billy Vassiliadis, CEO of R&R Partners (the ad agency behind the “What Happens Here, Stays Here” campaign). “You see it in Boston and Chicago, and we’re going to see more of it in Las Vegas. People are increasingly interested in living in a place where everything they want — shopping, restaurants, entertainment — is nearby.”

And residents aren’t the only ones who will benefit from the shift to a higher-density, more pedestrian-friendly Las Vegas.

“We’ve grown so big recently that moving around has become a burden,” says Vassiliadis, who believes CityCenter represents the beginning of a trend toward more destinations within a destination: “Las Vegas is going to evolve into something like Paris [the one in France, not the one up the street] where you spend one day in one arrondissement and go to another the next day.”

“CityCenter is Las Vegas entering the 21st century,” agrees Christopher Leinberger, a professor at the University of Michigan and visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. “It’s fundamentally different than anything else that’s been built in Las Vegas before — modern, high-density, mixed-use — but it’s following the lead of metropolitan areas around the country.” Hard money training

In these tough economic times everyone deserves a break from reality, and Las Vegas is the cure for the common vacation. Make the most of your Vegas trip with these helpful tips.

Before you leave home, prepare for your trip by booking your room. Staying downtown or off-Strip can save you money, but with amazing deals and added “perks”, staying on the Strip is really your best bet. The Strip refers to the portion of Las Vegas Blvd., where all the major resorts are located. If you’re looking for a four star vacation, check out the Venetian, with its “authentic” Italian landscape, Caesars Palace, which has undergone a major renovation in the last few years, the Bellagio with it’s impressive lake, or the Wynn, Vegas’s newest resort. While not considered one of the finest resorts on the Strip, the MGM Grand, is one of the biggest and best, and the beds are considered the most comfortable in town. All five of these hotels are running amazing specials into the fall, offering such extras as free cash for the slots, and free food and discounts at night clubs, bars and restaurants.

With the hotel booked, it’s time to look at flights. Three days, two nights is more than enough time to spend in Vegas, and most major airlines have non-stop flights from just about anywhere in the United States, and Jet Blue, Southwest and Virgin America often run specials.

Now, with the hotel and flights set, it’s time to start planning the meat of your trip. Here are some suggestions on what to see, where to eat and what to do in Sin City. Hard money training

On a sunny October morning, a stiff breeze blows through a busy construction site on the Las Vegas Strip. Gathering strength, it whips past spools of wire and pallets of lumber, picks up a payload of grit and spins itself into a mini-tornado that rises into the sky.

And then just as quickly, the wind dies, the air clears and the sky is filled, not with dust and dirt, but with the gleaming glass towers of CityCenter, the biggest thing to hit this town since the slot machine. Part destination resort, part urban enclave, the 67-acre complex is a city within a city, an architectural tour de force and an $8.5-billion gamble on the economy, consumer confidence and the appeal of Vegas itself.

The dust devil may have lasted only a minute, but the winds of change that CityCenter represents will blow through Las Vegas for years to come.

Set to open its multi-billion-dollar doors in December, CityCenter is more than just another casino resort. It’s also the largest privately funded construction project in the U.S., a much-touted honorific that, in hindsight, strikes some as more burden than blessing. Conceived before the recession — and almost bankrupted by it — CityCenter is making its debut in a very different world.

The idea was born in 2004 when executives at MGM Mirage, CityCenter’s developer, began exploring ways to utilize what was then a 55-acre parcel (later expanded to 67 acres) between its Monte Carlo and Bellagio resorts. The task was headed up by then-president and current CEO James Murren. Hard money training

Las Vegas is the most exciting and entertaining city in the world. Nowhere else can you find a city that has all the travel amenities that only a complete resort destination can offer: luxurious casino hotels, fine dining, wonderful live entertainment and state-of-the art convention and trade show facilities. Las Vegas is a spectacular city, incomparable to any other. Everything that you would expect from a world-class metropolis, and more, is right here for your pleasure.

Las Vegas is a city that has something for everyone. While you are here, make sure to see all the great attractions the city of Las Vegas has to offer. Recognized all over the world, our famous Las Vegas Strip is where tourists can enjoy a walk in the warm desert evening, or take a stroll downtown and view a dazzling light show that spans an entire street, the Fremont Street Experience. You can also get a glimpse of amazing world famous re-creations like erupting volcanoes, the Eiffel Tower and the Sphinx of Egypt in front of the various hotels and casinos.

Las Vegas tourism offers top quality entertainment, including headliner shows and concerts, attractions, shopping and world-renowned resorts. Las Vegas nightlife will keep you up until dawn and art displays, music and museums take you on a journey from the classic to the contemporary. Downtown Las Vegas offers an energetic display of color with a bit of nostalgia and a glimpse of the future.

If you are looking to enjoy the Wild West and our great outdoor recreation, beyond the glamour and glitter of our neon lights, we have plenty to see. There are enchanting panoramas in the Red Rock National Conservation area, Lake Mead National Recreation area and at Mount Charleston. All are only minutes from Las Vegas Strip hotels and casinos. We have helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and the Las Vegas Strip departing every few minutes.

Las Vegas continuously reinvents itself, so even if you have been to our great city before you will never run out of fun things to do. You can use the links above to find more information about the unique opportunities and attractions Las Vegas offers to its visitors every year. National Hard Money Association