Las Vegas (USA, Nevada)

As early as in 1940, there were already almost 9 thousand gamblers, and 20 years later, their number increased to 64 thousand. Since that time, gaming houses were multiplying on the streets of Las Vegas. The first one is thought to be «El Rancho», which has not survived to this day. Now this business is one of the main sources of Las Vegas’s income.

In the 1950s, Las Vegas also began to attract tourists by an absolutely extraordinary spectacle: only 100 kilometers away from the city, nuclear weapon tests were carried out on Nevada test site. “Nuclear mushrooms” of explosions could be seen from hotels at the very center of Las Vegas.

There are many different items of interest in the city itself, such as “Bellagio” hotel’s dancing fountains, “Paris” hotel’s copy of an Eifel Tower among many others. Not far from the city, there is the well-known Hoover Dam.

The city is situated in a desert climate zone. The summer is hot and long, the winter is mild. Occasionally, there are light frosts in winter, in summer it often gets vey hot with the temperature rising up to 50 degrees Celsius. Precipitation is spread evenly; there is more precipitation in winter. The annual total is 100 mm of precipitation.

According to the census of 2000, there were 478,434 people living in the city. The population density was 1630.3 persons per sq km. It includes 69.86 % whites, 10.36 % Afro Americans, 1.2 % Native Americans, 4.78 % Asians, 9.75 % members other nationalities and 4.05 % of those who belong to two or more races. Latino and Hispanic make up 23.61 % of the whole population. Non-Hispanic whites were making 58.04 %.
Five major nationality groups are: German (12.2 %), Irish (9.8 %), British (8.4 %), Italian (6.7 %) and American (4.5 %).

As of 2006 the Greater Las Vegas area was populated by over 1.7 million people. In December of 2007, the population of Clark County was over 2 million people.

The chief problem of Las Vegas’s economy is water supply. The main source of water for the city is Reservoir Mead on the Colorado River. In recent years water deficit forced the authorities in Las Vegas to introduce limitations on its consumption.

Gaming business is the base of the city’s economy and a part of a bigger phenomenon: the entertainment industry.

Las Vegas attracts tourists not only with gaming houses, but also with sports arenas, where well promoted events take place. Various presentations, beauty contest finals, Porno Oscars awards are also often held in the city.
In addition, tourist companies also organize many tours from Las Vegas — bus tours, driving tours, water tours (on Lake Mead) and aero-tours (by helicopter or plane). The main visiting sites are – Hoover Dam, Reservoir Mead, Grand Canyon, Death Valley and other places. An important section of the tourist business is organizing and holding weddings.

City and suburb transportation is represented by buses and cabs. McCarran International airport is connected to Paradise and Winchester districts by The Las Vegas Monorail which is 6.3 kilometers (3.9 miles) long.
The main bus station serving local and inter-city routes is located in Downtown, a little to the north from Fremont Street, next to highway № 95.

The cost of one bus ride in the city, as of January 2010, is as follows: one trip – $3; ticket for one day – $7. It allows you to ride on city buses in any direction during one whole day from the moment you use the ticket at the turnpike of the first bus.

Most bus routes are functioning from 6.00 till 22.00–24.00.

The «Deuce» bus rout (this name is used in the States for a playing card with number two which is lowest-ranked) — is the main communication of the transport system in Las Vegas. It connects bus stations Downtown (in the north) and South (to the south of McCarran Airport, close to 215 Highway). This rout goes by Fremont Street and down Las Vegas Boulevard. It has stops at the main casino-hotels and functions 24 hours a day with an interval of 5-8 minutes. Double decked buses are used on this route with a splendid view; these buses are called “The Deuce”.

Las Vegas is a big air travel hub. The main international airport McCarran with four runways is located in the south part of Paradise district. Two more airports are designated for private and small airplanes. They are: North Las Vegas Air Term (located in the northern part of the city 6 kilometers to the north-west of Downtown) and Boulder City Municipal (which is 30 kilometers to the south-east down the road to Hoover Dam).

Besides that, in North Las Vegas, 13 kilometers to the north-east of Downtown, there is a big Air Force base — Nellis (Nellis AFB). In particular, aerobatic team “Thunderbirds” of US Air Force is based here and one can watch them practicing at a distance from the top floor windows of Downtown’s hotels facing the north.
You can use minibus “Shuttle” to get from the international airport McCarran to your hotel (or back). As of January 2010, the price for one ticket was $6.5 to the nearest hotels in Paradise district and $8.5 to the hotels in Downtown (Fremont Street district).

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