High Gas Prices Threaten Northern Nevada’s Economy

The article ‘Oil costs threaten Nevada’s economy’ in the Reno Gazette-Journal is about how the rising gas prices are expected to cause economical hardship for Northern Nevada.

The problems stem from the fact that tourism is very important in this area with most of the tourism business coming from people driving from California (Cox, 2007).  With the high gas prices people are not expected to travel as much, meaning that the tourism is going to be lower in this area.

Less tourism means less money coming in and that is not good for the economy of this area.  The effects are expected to be seen over the next couple of years and will likely affect Northern Nevada only since the rest of the state gets most of its business from tourists traveling by air.  The overall conclusion of the article is that rising gas prices are going to cause a drop in tourism in the northern parts of Nevada, but the likelihood of this impact is going to be something that can be overcome and should not devastate this area of the state.

The impact on the state of Nevada, according to the article, is one of a short term nature that is a localized issue and will not affect the whole state.

The cause of the issue is that high gas prices are causing people to travel less and the economy in northern Nevada relies heavily upon people visiting, mostly from those driving in from California (World Now, 2001-2007).  The fact that the economy of the area is so dependent upon travel means that when travel decreases, business decreases (Cox, 2007) and money is lost.

According to the article, it is likely to be a problem that will surface over the next couple of years, but it something that can probably be handled and will not cause long term problems with the economy of Northern Nevada.  Nevada has seen such hardships before and managed to survive through them, so it is predicted that the state will come through this just fine, too (World Now, 2001-2007).

Based upon the information given by the expert in the article, the whole state is not going to impacted just the northern part (World Now, 2001-2007) and basing my opinion on this, I believe this is not a huge issue the state will need to deal with.

Las Vegas is the biggest attraction in the state and it is located in the south, so it is really doubtful that the economy of the whole state is going to see a huge impact by gas prices.  Overall, the effects will likely be minimal on a state wide level and mainly concentrated to the northern area.   With that in mind it really does not seem like a major issue that should worry people in Nevada.  It is not going to cause the economy to take a nose dive or anything of that nature.

It seems Nevada has handled such problems before and the businesses should be able to survive despite the issues (Cox, 2007).  While it may be hard for the next couple of years, Northern Nevada will bounce back.  It is a popular tourist destination and is bound to stay that way despite the cost of gas.  Perhaps the only downfall is going to be the effect on small businesses, which may not be able to survive the hard times.   A little loss over an extended period of time could make it hard for a small business to afford to be able to operate.

In my opinion, gas prices are hurting business and people all over the country, so the problem is not really unique to Nevada.  However, as it states in the article, Northern Nevada is a big concern due to the fact that the majority of business comes there from people who are driving into the area (Cox, 2007).  It would make sense that as gas prices rise, people are going to be using cheaper methods of travel and may go elsewhere that they can get to by air.

So, in the long run, it is likely that this impact will be felt pretty hard by those businesses in the north, but with all the information and opinions expressed on the past occurrences of rough economic times, there is little doubt that this area will not have problems bouncing back.  It is a short term problem that will probably not cause long term effects.  Additionally, it is not going to effect the whole state, but rather just business in the north.