That's the assessment of one of the key figures in a company responsible for some of the city's top attractions.
Gary Goddard, chief executive officer of Landmark Entertainment Group, gave the assessment at the annual Tourism Awareness luncheon, sponsored by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Landmark, based in North Hollywood, Calif., has designed such attractions as Caesars Magical Empire at Caesars Palace and the EFX show at the MGM Grand. The company is also designing Star Trek: The Experience, at the Las Vegas Hilton. Landmark has also provided attractions for major theme parks around the world.
"The people who come to Las Vegas talk about the great larger-than-life experiences that they can't get anywhere else in the world," Goddard said.
"We always just look at Las Vegas as a big theme park with a captive audience with a certain amount of money to spend."
Themed attractions play a big role in deciding which resorts get that money, Goddard said. At any given time, there are four or five "must-see" attractions in town that influence which casinos tourists visit.
As new attractions are unveiled, some older ones lose their status. But having had a major attraction helps a property get the business of return visitors, he said Wednesday.
Themed attractions in Las Vegas and elsewhere are using increasingly advanced combinations of technologies and techniques, Goddard said. The Terminator 2 attraction designed by Landmark for Universal Studios in Florida uses a combination of live actors and three-dimension film.
"Things really come at you," Goddard said. "They violate your space."
The point is to make people feel like they are in the middle of the experience and not just watching passively, Goddard said.
Star Trek: The Experience will "beam" visitors to the bridge of the USS Enterprise, where they will experience an action-packed 23-minute simulation. The $70 million attraction has been described by Hilton as "the most high-tech facility in the world."
Tourist destinations have to compete with increasingly advanced leisure attractions available to consumers closer to home, Goddard said.
"There is a major play going to grab that leisure time," Goddard said. "And all of us feel that pressure of having less leisure time."
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