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Dec 30, 2008 5:33 pm US/Central
North Texas New Year's Eve Economic Outlook
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Will Dallas businesses ring in a strong new year? Hotel and dining operations are gearing up for New Year's Eve, hoping a tough economy won't impact business.
There are three things in Dallas that offer signs of economic activity – visitors going to the King Tut exhibit, the Cotton Bowl, and New Year's Eve itself.
Tuesday afternoon they were still booking rooms at Dallas' posh Palomar Hotel. While rooms cost a minimum of $300 a night, 90-percent of the almost 200 room hotel is already booked.
"We have a private party that's happening at the hotel and so we have a lot of guests that are going to be staying here for that," explained Tracie Houston with Palomar Hotel. "And then obviously with Texas Tech and Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl we're gonna see a lot of guests from that too."
With one day to go before New Years Eve, Dallas area restaurants are still taking reservations. While that is usually a sign of a spending downturn, Baine Brooks with the Dallas Restaurant Association says that's not the case.
"People have saved their money. We've seen gas prices go down. We've actually seen our sales in December and the end of November ratcheting up a little bit," said Brooks.
Restaurant and hospitality analysts point to the current visitor activity downtown, citing the thousands of people heading to the King Tut exhibit, and for sporting events at the Cotton Bowl.
Business is also expected to be brisk because of the "staycationers", or people taking vacations in town. One of those people includes Eileen Brazil. She's from Fort Worth, but is already ringing in the New Year, spending money in Dallas.
"They're so in the habit of spending their money. This generation doesn't know how to cut back," said Brazil.
To encourage spending in North Texas some upscale hotels have reduced rates and casual dining restaurants are offering fixed price meals.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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