Local resorts would like to welcome more people to town when Las Vegas hosts its New Years celebration in a few weeks. But the economy is making it tough to fill all of our hotel rooms, with rates down 27 percent since last year. News 3's Steve Crupi reports that Las Vegas is taking extreme measures to attract business.

There's a bizarre new Las Vegas ad campaign being developed. Rates on New Year's Eve are actually reasonable this year. And if you want a hotel room the night before, News 3 found deals as cheap as under $10 per night.

$9.95 is the rate for a mid-week stay at a few of the hotels in Primm. And on the Strip, rooms are cheaper than we've seen in a few years. At the Mirage, rooms are going for $80 per night, and for $26 at the Riviera.

Budget-conscious travelers love the bargains. But hotel deals won't get the local economy back on track. That brings us to the latest publicity stunt: the LVCVA is working on an ad campaign that involves bringing an entire town of people to Las Vegas.

Everyone in the small Texas town of Cranfills Gap is being offered a free trip to Las Vegas. Free trips won't help the economy, but they may grab attention. And that brings us to the topic of New Year's Eve.

It's a night when the demand for rooms usually drives prices sky high. A room that averaged $466 last year can be had this New Year's Eve for $341. Hotel occupancy on New Year's Eve is still expected to be well over 90 percent.

The key for the economy, however, isn't how many people are coming here, but how much they are spending.

For safety and monetary reasons, the fireworks on the Strip this New Year's Eve will be radically different. Hotel rooftops will no longer be used. Instead, the launch zones will either be at ground-level or on top of hotel parking garages.