Las Vegas is everything kitchy.
Las Vegas needs tourism money- lots of it. 
Yesterday, proving both tenets, a parade of 281 bikini-clad women seductively strutted their wares in the hot Las Vegas sun, setting a Guinness World Record for the world’s largest bikini parade.
Parading on the Las Vegas Strip, from Wynn resort to the Fashion Show mall, the entourage of beauties was led by Playboy plaything personality and former No. 1 Hugh Hefner flame Holly Madison, flanked by two Jublilee! bedecked dancers, decreeing that “summer in paradise” in Las Vegas has started a month earlier.
“Only in Las Vegas could this take place,” said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who was joined in proclaiming the beginning of summer by Clark County Commisioner Larry Brown at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign – the 50th anniversary of the sign – on the south end of the Strip.
Participants were paid $100 and got to keep their bikinis, which were provided by various Las Vegas retailers at the mall. The women also got a pass to one of several Strip pool parties.
The “Summer in Paradise” branded parade, which coincided with the beginning of the Las Vegas pool scene season and National Tourism Week, cost the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority about $100,000. The parade might become an annual event.
Hopefully, the sizzling event will help to boost sagging Las Vegas tourism. In March, visitor volume was down 6.5 percent compared to the previous year. The average daily room rate was down 31.6 percent, and convention attendance was down 30 percent. Gaming revenue dropped 12.3 percent on the Strip and 9.8 percent in the county overall.
Vegas Backstage Access (VBA) 