High rollers can gamble in private

Las Vegas Las Vegas’ first private gambling salon has been approved and may open as early as this month, reports Anthony Curtis’ Las Vegas Advisor newsletter (>www.lasvegasadvisor.com

To play in the high-roller salon, which will be housed in MGM’s exclusive hotel-within-a-hotel, known as the Mansion, gamblers must have a minimum credit line of $500,000 and make minimum bets of $500.

QE2 visits 6 continents

Miami A cruise fit for a queen is set for the high seas aboard Cunard Line’s regal QE2, which will leave New York on Jan. 5 and return April 23.

The 107-day trip from New York will include six continents, 25 countries and 35 ports, according to the cruise line. Passengers can also depart Jan. 7 from Fort Lauderdale.

Ports of call include Papeete, Tahiti; Auckland, New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia; Manila, Philippines; Nagasaki, Japan; Hong Kong; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Singapore; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Mombassa, Kenya; Cape Town, South Africa, and Southampton, England.

For more information call (800) 7-CUNARD or check www.cunard.com.

Philadelphia courts foreign tourists

Philadelphia Foreign tourists on their way to other U.S. destinations have long bypassed the home of the cheesesteak, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

Washington, D.C., lured 1.5 million foreign visitors in 2000. Boston had 1.3 million. Atlanta had 700,000. But Philadelphia, the nation’s fifth-largest city, drew only 390,000 international travelers.

City officials hope to begin changing that next month when they launch a $1.2 million advertising campaign aimed at enticing more Europeans to visit. Most of the effort will target potential tourists from the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy.

The campaign will be Philadelphia’s first try at marketing itself directly to tourists overseas.