Some local economists and industry experts say pent-up demand for travel and a sharp rise in household savings are expected to lead to a quicker recovery compared with the ramp up after the 2007-09 recession.

"The return for Las Vegas is actually going to be stronger and over a shorter period of time," said Alan Feldman, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas International Gaming Institute fellow and former MGM Resorts executive.

Steve Hill, chief executive officer of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said the World of Concrete convention should help boost confidence in the city's recovery and the idea that other large conventions can be held safely.

Keeping people separated at conventions and on the Strip remains the right decision for now because of Covid-19 risks, Mr. Hill said. "But that is not a business model that works for Las Vegas or any other tourism destination" over the long term, he said. "Vegas is really about excitement, and excitement almost always comes in a crowd."

The organization just finished a $989 million dollar expansion on its landmark convention center. Mr. Hill said the LVCVA has more space booked for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, than ever before, partly because some conventions that were delayed in recent months are being pushed to midyear and will take place again at their usual time in early 2022.

Meanwhile, thousands of workers who keep the casino resorts operating, from cooks to convention servers to housekeepers and room service delivery people, are waiting for their jobs to return, and some are wondering whether casino operators will move on to the next tourism boom without them, as companies practice operating with fewer workers to cut costs.

Culinary Union Local 226, which represents about 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada, says half of their members are still out of work.

On a recent morning in North Las Vegas, a line of cars formed outside the Culinary Academy, a nonprofit school that trains hospitality workers for the casino industry. The campus turned itself into a food pantry last spring for laid-off and furloughed workers. The academy has given away 12.6 million pounds of food.

Concession workers who staffed the local Smith Center for Performing Arts before the pandemic are now running the warehouse. Some learned to drive forklifts to move boxes of food. The academy expects to continue the operation for the foreseeable future.

"Although people are going to start to go back to work, they're not yet going to return to that level of employment -- those full time work hours, the overtime," said Mark Scott, chief executive officer of the Culinary Academy. "The tips may not quite be there for people."

Joaquin Ortiz, 65, became a buffet server in 2013 after he was forced to close his upholstery business during the 2007-09 recession.

Last March, he was told to turn in his uniform at the casino where he was working, and he has been living off dwindling savings and unemployment assistance. He is worried when the job comes back, he will be replaced by a new worker rather than being called back. Even at 65, he said, he doesn't want to retire. "I want to work," Mr. Ortiz said. "I'm ready to work."

Some of the students at the CEG Dealer School are laid-off workers from other parts of a casino's operations, such as housekeeping and food service. Others are jumping into the industry for the first time, even relocating from across the country.

Mr. Noll, 51, managing director of the school, made his way to Las Vegas in 1991. He initially flunked his craps dealer audition, but soon worked his way into the job at Golden Gate casino. He went on to positions at about a dozen other casinos.

"A dealer school, for many people, is just a way forward," he said.

As industry opportunities became slim in the 2007-09 recession, he stepped away from casinos to canvas for the Democratic Party and work as a business consultant. Mr. Noll wanted to be back on the casino floor by 2017, so he signed up at CEG Dealer School to brush up his skills. He met the school's founder, Alex Kim, and became a business partner in the school.

Mr. Kim, 34, a Las Vegas native, studied accounting at University of Nevada Las Vegas. He found the casino business more alluring and became a dealer instead. But when he was laid off from the Cosmopolitan in 2013, he launched the dealer school with help from his family. His first location in the suburb of Henderson failed to attract enough students.

He put his gaming tables in his garage and turned to his parents again -- "I told them, just one more try," he said -- and reopened closer to the casino action. This time, the investment paid off.

Write to Katherine Sayre at katherine.sayre@wsj.com and Kim Mackrael at kim.mackrael@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-18-21 1237ET