Cirque du Soleil Gets Entrepreneurial with a New Growth Strategy
Skift Take
Cirque du Soleil has been widely popular with Vegas visitors for more than a decade, but consumers are demanding more participative and interactive activities. Cirque finds a home for its projects and a steady flow of new customers through its continue hospitality partnerships.
Cirque du Soleil opened its first show in 1980, but its growth truly took off in the 1990s when it started partnering with resorts, setting up permanent residencies.
Despite its decades-long success in Vegas, and what critics would say is a weakening in that market, the production company is now looking to a different breed of resorts to fuel a new participative product.
The business model began when Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn flew to Toronto to see one of the first Cirque du Soleil shows accompanied by co-founder Guy Laliberté. He brought the show to Las Vegas in the parking lot of the Mirage before the first permanent show, Mystère, opened at Treasure Island in 1993.
Fast forward to today and Cirque performers are still performing at Treasure Island in addition to permanent shows at seven more resorts in Vegas and one in
