When you open a new hotel/casino resort complex in Sincity, everyone expects it to be bigger and more costlier than anything before.  

And so it was with City Center - the 67 acre, $8.6 billion project which employs 12,000 people and has earned 6 LEED certifications.

CityCenter opened it’s first hotel - Vdara Hotel & Spa, on Dec 1, 2009. Las Vegas celebrated the opening of the gigantic CityCenter project with a star-studded party with Orlando Bloom and Rosario Dawson on hand for the ribbon cutting of Vdara.

It was quickly followed by the opening of the Crystals retail and entertainment district on Dec 3, the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas  on Dec 4, with the ARIA Resort & Casino set to open on Dec 16. Photo courtesy CityCenter.

Here’s the rest of the week’s travel news:-

Rolling Stone to launch restaurants - Los Angeles Times

Tai Shan, National Zoo’s Panda, about to be ‘extradited’ to China - Time blog

National Geographic Adventure magazine folds - New York Times  

Tahoe treehuggers protest against eco-friendly casino contruction - Treehugger

40 oil tankers berthed offshore menace English tourist village - Wall Street Journal

Copenhagen COP15 Climate Summit attendees offered free sex by city’s prostitutes - Spiegel Online

The Oprah tour of Chicago - Jaunted

Model Obama homes in garden holiday train shows - Holland Sentinel

The Bourne Guide to travel - San Francisco Chronicle

Reno Santa Crawl on Dec 12 - Reno Santa Crawl

Posted on December 6th, 2009 by PLing
Filed under: Travel News