by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:08 AM ET, Mon March 16, 2020
Las Vegas is known as one of the biggest tourist hotspots in the United States, but many of the top hotels and casinos in the city are shutting down temporarily as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, officials from both MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts announced Sunday they would temporarily close their properties in Las Vegas starting Tuesday until further notice.
MGM Resorts revealed that all casinos would be closed on Monday and hotel operations will shutter Tuesday. The hotel giant owns the Bellagio, CityCenter, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Mirage, New York-New York, Park MGM and T-Mobile Arena.
MGM Resorts will not be taking reservations for arrivals before May 1. Chairman and CEO Jim Murren released a statement about the closures:
"Despite our commitment to dedicating additional resources for cleaning and promoting good health, while making difficult decisions to close certain aspects of our operations, it is now apparent that this is a public health crisis that requires major collective action if we are to slow its progression."
"Accordingly, we will close all of our Las Vegas properties as of Tuesday, March 17th, for the good of our employees, guests and communities. This is a time of uncertainty across our country and the globe and we must all do our part to curtail the spread of this virus. We will plan to reopen our resorts as soon as it safe to do so and we will continue to support our employees, guests, and communities in every way that we can during this period of closure."
Murren also said MGM Resorts would pay full-time employees being laid off or furloughed for two weeks from their last date of work and all health plans will continue through June 30.
For Wynn Resorts, the temporary closure of its properties would be effective Tuesday at 6 p.m. local time and is expected to remain closed for two weeks, at which point officials would reevaluate. The company said it would pay full-time Wynn and Encore employees during the shutdown.
On Sunday, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation announced its properties would remain open.
The hotel industry took another blow Monday, as the Walt Disney Company announced it would temporarily shut down all Disney stores and hotels on Tuesday, including the locations at Disney Springs in Orlando and Downtown Disney in Anaheim.
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