$40B thrown into Vegas development kitty

On a winning streak after its best year ever, Las Vegas is upping the ante for hotels, shopping and dining.

An unprecedented $40 billion in tourist development is due by 2012, mostly high-end projects from big names.

Thursday, a new 3,066-room resort on the Strip officially opened -- the first since Wynn Las Vegas in April 2005. The Palazzo, sister to the 4,027-room The Venetian, is a suites-only property with rates from about $200 and restaurants from the who's who of chefdom, including Mario Batali, Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck. There's a club owned by rapper Jay-Z. Shopping includes the first Barneys New York in Vegas.

A new tourism slogan -- "Your Vegas is Showing" -- also was unveiled this week in TV and print ads. It focuses on the city's growing cachet as a shopping, dining and party-like-a-rock-star destination, says Erika ...