LAS VEGAS (CAP) - In an effort to tap into the vast reservoir of disposable income that goes unspent every year by members of the so-called Generation X and Generation Y, the City of Las Vegas Tourism Board is unveiling a new marketing strategy to replace "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
The new strategy is simply called, Just Give Us Your Damn Money.
"Single people in the 25-45 age range have plenty of money to spend on vacations," said Tourism Board president Melvin Kelingrove, "but they're just so apathetic, many of them can't be bothered to go through the effort to actually contact a travel agent or put together a trip on their own.
"With this new strategy in place," added Kelingrove, "they can obtain the entire vacation experience with the click of a button, and they don't actually have to go anywhere or do anything!"
Under the new promotion, faux vacationers simply log onto the Tourism Board's new website, giveusyourdamnmoney.org, and enter their credit card number. Based on their credit limit, the site automatically calculates how much the person would have spent on food, entertainment, and gambling, and immediately charges the account holder with that sum.
"In most cases, the amount is ironically exactly equal to the credit limit, so it works out great," said Stewart MacIntosh, senior staff editor at Fodor's travel magazine. "It's really quite brilliant."
Four to six weeks later, a package arrives that contains the person's 'vacation keepsakes' - used ticket stubs from shows, photos of the Vegas area, a stripper's phone number scribbled on a cocktail napkin, etc. "You get the whole Vegas experience without ever leaving home," added MacIntosh.
"I'd definitely be up for a vacation like this," said Corey Holland of the popular Gen X online community www.genxlives.com. "I mean, actually going to Vegas - getting on a plane, sitting in the casinos, doing stuff - the whole thing just smacks of effort. If I can just sit in my living room, log onto my Mac Book, and do my vacation that way, it's just so much easier.
"This is coming at a really good time for me, too," said Holland, "because I've been needing a vacation pretty badly for a while now. I just haven't been able to pull anything together. This is great!"
The new site will launch this fall, and the campaign will be supported by TV commercials set to air during repeat episodes of Seinfeld and Friends on TNT.
- CAP News Staff