EDITORIAL: Keeping Las Vegas at front of tourism industry

Las Vegas can't afford to rest on its reputation as an unmatched global vacation and convention destination. Keeping up with competing cities requires reinvestment. Two stories from this week highlight the constant change that characterizes the tourism industry.

On Wednesday, downtown said goodbye to another valley institution, the Las Vegas Club, which closed its casino's doors after 86 years in business. It was a formality because the property's hotel and restaurant had been shut down years ago. Derek and Greg Stevens, who turned Fitzgeralds into the D Las Vegas, bought the Las Vegas Club building and the land it sits on, and will turn it into something else at some point. The brothers haven't finalized a renovation plan, but whatever they do will provide a welcome upgrade.

On Tuesday, Mandalay Bay opened a $70 million, 350,000-square-foot convention center expansion, giving the building more than 2 million total square feet and 1.1 million square feet of exhibit space, which makes it the fifth-biggest in North America. (The Las Vegas Convention Center ranks third and the Sands Expo and Convention Center ranks fourth.) Convention center upgrades allow Las Vegas' existing events to grow and position the city to lure even more large conferences, which fill hotel rooms, restaurants and showrooms with visitors.

"This is an important day, not only to Mandalay Bay and MGM Resorts, but to all of Las Vegas," said Chuck Bowling, the hotel's president and COO. We couldn't agree more.