After a rocky debut and a softer second year, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is emerging as a stabilizing force for the city's tourism industry just as visitor demand shows signs of weakening, the head of the local tourism authority said. "Year one was logistically very challenging," Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told Reuters.

"The event itself was great but we were under construction basically for eight months and that was hard on people." Logistics improved the following year as the permanent track was in place, but "demand wasn't the same," he added.

Now in its third year, the Formula One race is taking place at a moment when Las Vegas can feel the difference between a packed calendar and an ordinary week, Hill said. "We're going through kind of a downt

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