What happens when a destination needs more than one reason for people to visit?
The answer is often tourism.
A strong tourism industry can become one of the most valuable parts of a local economy, bringing visitors into hotels, restaurants, attractions, shops, transport networks and entertainment venues. It creates jobs, encourages investment and gives local businesses access to customers from around the world.
And increasingly, destinations are finding that travellers want more than traditional sightseeing. Food, entertainment, events, sport, wellness, adventure and even casino tourism can all become part of the travel experience.
The important thing is not necessarily the individual attraction. It is what happens when that attraction gives people another reason to book a flight, stay another night and spend money locally.
Below is a look at three very different destinations that have successfully built tourism around entertainment and experiences, as well as the wider economic impact tourism can have.
Las Vegas, USA
Including Las Vegas is almost a no-brainer when talking about destination tourism.
This Nevada resort city has become one of the world’s most recognisable travel destinations. Yes, the casinos are famous, but Las Vegas is about considerably more than gaming.
Visitors come for concerts, major sporting events, restaurants, shopping, luxury hotels, pool resorts, nightlife and some of the world’s biggest entertainment productions. The city has become a destination where the experience itself is the attraction.
And all those visitors have a significant economic impact.
According to figures from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, 2025 recorded an annual visitor volume total of 35 million. The Las Vegas tourism industry’s total economic impact was measured at $80.9 billion, while direct spending reached $50.8 billion.
That spending doesn’t stay inside a casino. It flows through accommodation, restaurants, attractions, taxis, rideshares, retail, shows, and countless other businesses that depend on visitors.
Of course, not everyone can jet out to Las Vegas easily. This is where online casinos such as DraftKings offer an alternative for people who want to game without making it part of their travel plans. For a destination, however, the bigger lesson is how Las Vegas has built an entire visitor economy around entertainment and experiences.
It is a reminder that a successful tourism destination rarely relies on just one attraction.
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo offers a very different style of tourism.
The famous Monaco destination is associated with luxury hotels, glamorous restaurants, superyachts and Formula 1, alongside its historic casino culture. For some visitors, the casino is the main attraction. For others, it is simply one element of a much larger luxury travel experience.
That mix is important.
A traveller arriving in Monaco might spend money on accommodation, dining, shopping, transport, sightseeing, entertainment and events during the same trip. The destination benefits from each part of that journey.
Tourism is vital to the wider Principality of Monaco. Government figures reveal Monaco received 6.2 million visits in 2025, generating almost €1.4 billion in direct spending. Day visitors spent around €76 per day on average, while tourists staying in Monaco spent €348 per day.
Those numbers demonstrate why destinations pay attention not only to visitor numbers, but also to how long people stay and what they spend while they are there.
A destination with fewer visitors who stay longer and spend across multiple sectors can have a very different tourism economy from one relying heavily on short visits.
Singapore
Singapore has also demonstrated how entertainment can become part of a much broader tourism strategy.
The city-state has become a major international destination for food, shopping, culture, architecture, business events and entertainment, with casino resorts adding another reason for international travellers to visit.
In 2025, international arrivals to Singapore reached 16.9 million, according to the Singapore Tourism Board, while tourism receipts between January and September 2025 reached S$23.9 billion.
Sightseeing, gaming, food and beverage, and entertainment all recorded strong growth.
But the interesting part from a travel perspective is the variety.
Singapore isn’t dependent on a single attraction. Travellers can spend a morning exploring neighbourhoods and markets, an afternoon shopping, an evening eating their way through the city, and then attend a show or visit an entertainment complex at night.
That diversity makes a destination more resilient.
Putting the knowledge to good use
Tourism generates more than a trillion dollars in international spending and is one of the world’s most scalable engines of job creation. In 2025, the travel and tourism sector supported 366 million jobs globally and contributed $11.6 trillion to global GDP.
For destinations, that makes tourism much more than a way of attracting holidaymakers.
It is an economic strategy.
A well-managed tourism sector can attract investment, support local producers and create opportunities well beyond the main tourist centres. Money spent by visitors can flow through hotels, restaurants, tour operators, farmers, transport providers, retailers and independent businesses.
It can also help support the preservation of the places people have travelled to see in the first place.
Think about a destination built around its coastline. Visitors might pay for accommodation, seafood, boat trips, national park entry, local tours and restaurants. The tourism economy therefore creates a financial incentive to protect the natural assets that attract those visitors.
The same principle applies to cultural tourism.
Historic buildings, museums, traditional food, festivals and local crafts can all become part of the visitor economy while helping communities maintain and share their heritage.
The challenge for governments and tourism organisations is understanding the data behind all of this.
Why are people visiting?
Where are they coming from?
How long are they staying?
What are they spending money on?
And, perhaps most importantly, what would encourage them to stay one more night?
The answers can help destinations make smarter decisions about infrastructure, accommodation, attractions, transport and workforce training.
If visitor numbers are growing but hotels are full, for example, additional accommodation may be needed. If visitors are arriving but leaving after one night, developing evening entertainment or additional experiences could encourage longer stays.
Tourism planning is therefore about much more than counting arrivals.
Tourism: The employment booster
One of tourism’s biggest strengths is the number of industries it touches.
There are the obvious jobs in hotels, airlines, restaurants, tour companies, attractions and entertainment venues. Then there are the businesses supporting those industries, from farmers supplying restaurants to baggage handlers working at airports.
Tourism also creates demand for transport, digital connectivity, utilities, health and safety services and other infrastructure.
And that infrastructure can benefit residents as well as visitors.
A new airport connection might make a destination easier for tourists to reach while also making it easier for locals to travel. Improved public transport can move visitors around the city while providing a better service for residents. New restaurants, hotels and attractions create places for locals to work and enjoy too.
Tax revenue generated through tourism can also contribute to public services and community projects, depending on how governments allocate those funds.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about tourism is its ability to connect seemingly unrelated parts of an economy.
A traveller books a flight.
They stay in a hotel.
They eat at a local restaurant.
They hire a driver.
They visit an attraction.
They buy a souvenir.
They book a tour.
That single traveller has touched multiple businesses and industries during one trip.
And multiply that by thousands, or millions, of visitors.
Tourism as a destination’s Plan B
The lesson from destinations such as Las Vegas, Monte Carlo and Singapore isn’t simply that casinos attract tourists.
It is that having multiple reasons to visit can make a destination stronger.
A traveller might arrive for a sporting event and discover the food scene. Another might come for a concert and stay for the museums. Someone else might visit for business and extend their trip for sightseeing.
This is where tourism becomes particularly powerful.
The most resilient destinations don’t necessarily depend on one attraction, one market or one type of traveller. They build layers of experiences that appeal to different people at different times of the year.
Food tourism.
Adventure tourism.
Cultural tourism.
Wellness.
Sport.
Events.
Cruises.
Nature.
Entertainment.
Luxury travel.
And yes, for some destinations, casino tourism.
Each can provide another reason for someone to visit.
Tourism can therefore become something of a Plan B for an economy. Not because it replaces every other industry, but because it can create an additional economic engine that supports businesses, jobs, infrastructure and communities.
For travellers, that means more places to explore and more reasons to stay a little longer.
For destinations, it can mean something even more valuable: an economy that benefits from people wanting to experience the place, rather than simply pass through it.
