LAS VEGAS (AP) — Crowds in Las Vegas during the weekend stirred talk Monday about a coronavirus pandemic recovery arriving along with college basketball fans, spring breakers and pool partiers.

Alan Feldman of the International Gaming Institute at UNLV said Monday there's clearly untapped demand for tourists to return. But he says there is still a need to be careful that COVID-19 infection rates don't spike.

Scenes of people packing the resort-lined Las Vegas Strip, the downtown Fremont Street casino pedestrian mall and McCarran International Airport provided stark contrast from eerily deserted places during COVID-19 shutdowns of 2020.