Casino
Openings Highlight Start of 2006
When the Imperial Palace reopens
as an upgraded, refurbished casino resort on
December 22, the optimistic fresh start for
the Mississippi Gulf Coast will begin with it.
Before
New Year's, the Imperial Palace, the Isle of
Capri, and the Palace will all reopen, giving
the heavily hurricane-impacted Coast a reason
to greet 2006 with hope and a brighter outlook.
Between them, the three resorts have approximately
2,000 rooms, all of which will be in high demand.
"Having
these three resorts back in business will attract
thousands of day trip customers, some of our
meetings business, and many tour groups,"
said Stephen Richer, Executive Director of the
Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors
Bureau. "Although we still will be far
short of our previous room inventory and meeting
space, we know that the demand to visit our
destination is high and that business will take
off with the reopening of the Imperial Palace,
the Isle of Capri, and the Palace."
Another
highlight of renewed tourism industry activity
occurred on December 16, when American Eagle
introduced two daily roundtrip flights from
Gulfport/Biloxi Regional Airport to Dallas/Fort
Worth International. American Airlines had been
out of the Mississippi Gulf Coast market for
over a decade. The new service will help bring
air seats back to 92% of pre-Katrina levels
in January, when Continental adds additional
seats.
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