Manny Pacquiao bout packs a punch for Dubai World and Las Vegas tourism

CityCenter in Las Vegas, half-owned by Dubai World, to benefit from a recovery in events market with Manny Pacquiao fight taking place this weekend.

Manny Pacquiao turns to the crowd after arriving at the MGM Grand casino and hotel in Las Vegas. Pacquiao will defend his WBO welterweight title against Shane Mosely on Saturday. AP Photo/Julie JacobsonShow less

There will be more than just fight fans cheering when Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley step into the ring in Las Vegas this weekend.

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The nearby CityCenter mega-resort half-owned by Dubai World, is showing signs of improvement amid evidence of a wider recovery on the Las Vegas Strip.

MGM Resorts, the leisure company which owns the other half of the CityCenter hotel and casino development says there has been a rise in rates and occupancy levels at its Vegas properties. This is helping to reduce CityCenter's losses, after the resort, which cost $8.5 billion (Dh31bn) to build, launched in December 2009 into a severely depressed and challenging market that has proved difficult for businesses to recover from.

But events such as the high-profile fight, which takes place a the MGM Grand Garden Arena with Manny expected into the ring around 5am UAE time, will only help speed up a pick up in business in Las Vegas.

"Consumer spending is strengthening and we will take advantage of this through a very strong event calendar that we have throughout the the summer and into the second half," said Jim Murren, the international chief executive of MGM Resorts.

"We know that when we have good events at the arenas people spend more money and we're seeing that right now. This weekend we have a very important fight at the MGM. This is going to draw attention from around the world. Manny Pacquiao is fighting Shane Mosley. This is clearly going to be a strong draw for the Strip properties." Events at its Mandalay events centre and MGM Grand Garden properties are up significantly this year, Mr Murren said.

He added that a Paul McCartney concert there in June would also help attract visitors and spend.

MGM Resorts saw 16 per cent increase in revenue per available room at its Las Vegas properties in the first quarter, with occupancy levels increasing from 85 to 87 per cent and average daily rates rising 13 per cent to $130.

Convention bookings are also growing in Las Vegas at CityCenter, MGM Resorts reported.

The CityCenter development, 50 per cent owned by the Dubai World subsidiary Infinity World, was planned during a boom time for Las Vegas property and tourism sector. As the economic downturn set in, Las Vegas was hit hard, as convention bookings and tourism declined and property prices slumped.

The CityCenter complex's main attraction is the 4,004-room Aria gaming resort. It also has as luxury non-gaming hotels including Las Vegas' first Mandarin Oriental. There is also a 46,450 square metre retail and entertainment district and a $40m fine art collection.

The improvement at the development has been significant. Aria's occupancy levels were 86 per cent in the first quarter and it had average rates of $201, resulting in revenue per available room of $172, a 41 per cent increase on the same period last year. This helped the property narrow its losses from $119 million to $6 million last year.

This was CityCenter's strongest quarter to date, despite the opening of the $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan hotel and casino nearby in December. Owned by Deutsche Bank, one might expect this to be strong competition.

"Overall we believe the opening had a positive impact on all of CityCenter and has helped to improve foot traffic," said Bobby Baldwin, the president of CityCenter.

But MGM Resorts, despite having more than $12 billion of debt, remains upbeat on the future for CityCenter.

"We're very happy with the operating improvement we have seen in the first quarter," said Mr Murren. "We expect more great things to come for that venture."