LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The holiday season usually means more customer traffic for Chinatown businesses.
That's certainly true on Thursday during the dinner rush.
At Shanghai Plaza, a strip mall just west of the Strip, parking spots were rare, and sidewalks were packed Thursday evening.
The busy season has been a boost for the area and for the broader Las Vegas economy and it continues to hum along almost four years out from the pandemic shutdowns.
"The holiday season, it tends to get a lot busier," says Jude Jacobe, an employee at bb.q Chicken, a restaurant at the plaza.
Joe Muscaglione, the managing partner at Shanghai Taste, tells Channel 13 that his restaurant consistently had several dozen people on its waitlist on Dec. 23, Dec. 24, and Christmas Day.
"It's been like that every day," he says.
Usually, in Chinatown, there's a mix of local customers and tourists, though more tourists tend to visit over the holidays.
Tourism officials expect about 400,000 visitors to come to Las Vegas this weekend to celebrate New Year's Eve, which means there will likely be significant spillover to Chinatown.
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One of those tourists on Thursday was Ahlam Nure from Maine, in town to visit her cousins.
"It's great visiting here in the winter because I don't need a coat, thank God," Nure said. "The people here at Shanghai Plaza, they're nice and it feels very festive and cultural. I like it here."
