- Las Vegas Tours
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 - Climate
While it is hot in the summer, Las Vegas has one of the best climates in the United States. Our summer heat is easier to deal with than the summer heat in most other places including parts of the midwest, east and south. Las Vegas enjoys an average of 289 days of sunshine per year. Since this is a 'night-time', 24-hour city, the warm, dry summer nights are outstanding for visitors and locals.

 - Location
Las Vegas is centrally located in the Southwest quadrant of the United States. Partly because of this, Las Vegas was destined to become a distribution and transportation center. Easy access to California, Arizona, Utah and many other places in the west has helped to make Las Vegas a primary warehousing point for several large nationally based corporations.

 - Setting
Las Vegas is the closest major city to more internationally famous parks than any other city in the United States. Las Vegas is the gateway to the Grand Canyon. More people visit the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas than from anywhere else. Lake Mead National Recreation Area is only 20 minutes east of Las Vegas. Lake Mead has over 10 million visitors a year. Hoover Dam is only 30 minutes from Las Vegas. Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, in Utah, are only a few hours away from Las Vegas. Death Valley gets more visitors from Las Vegas than from anywhere else. Yosemite is also only a few hours away from Las Vegas. There are several 'local' parks that are just as outstanding as these. The Valley Of Fire is a state park which has over 200,000 visitors per year. Red Rock Canyon is a favorite of the locals. The Spring Mountains with forests, skiing, snowboarding and camping are also a local favorite. The Great Basin National Park is very new. Once people find out about this park, it will receive a LOT of visitors. Most of them coming through Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Valley is surrounded by mountains. To the west are the Spring Mountains. To the south is the McCullough Range made up of extinct volcanoes. To the east is Frenchmans Mountain which exhibits, in widely variegated colors, about 600 million years of earths history. To the north is the Sheep Range whose limestone strata swirl and shift in so many directions geologists disagree as to the interpretation of their geological record.

 - Las Vegas Tourism
The robust economy of Las Vegas has its source in the over 30 million visitors a year. The principal attractions are entertainment, gambling, climate, proximity to national parks, gorgeous hotels, 24 hour atmosphere, cheap lodging and food, major sporting events, and hundreds of other diversions.

Tourism started slowly in Las Vegas with the legalization of gambling in the 1930's. Since then, the industry has gone through several evolutions. From Mob ties in the early days to the Howard Hughes era, the industry has constantly renewed itself. Currently, Las Vegas is in the 'mega-resort' phase of its development. Huge, billion dollar resort complexes are now the norm. Each of these meg-resorts are so impressive as to become destinations in themselves. The one thing that has not changed about the resorts in Las Vegas is that they still like to base themselves around some kind a appealing theme. Caesars Palace has a Roman theme. The Luxor has an Egyptian theme.