Tourism Flat But Visitors Staying Longer

Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The number of visitors to Las Vegas grew by 0.7 percent in June compared to a year ago, with convention attendance continuing to account for the growth.

Hotel and motel rooms remained more than 90 percent occupied, however, even though the city has added more than 4,000 new rooms over the past year.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority attributes that to longer stays by tourists and strong convention business.

Six months into the year, tourism officials say it appears that the Las Vegas tourism market is changing somewhat.

"The customers are becoming more leisure oriented than gaming oriented," said Barry Shier, an authority board member and executive with Mirage Resorts Inc. "The market is really starting to diversify."

Clark County gaming revenue was up 4.6 percent during the first six months of the year, climbing by 1.4 percent in the month of June.

Attendance at conventions for the first six months of the year was up 22.5 percent to 1.9 million people. Nearly 2,000 conventions were held during the first half of the year.

Visitor volume for the year is up 1.5 percent to 14.7 million people. Hotel room occupancy, though, is up 3.1 percent as visitors tended to stay longer than before.

While the Las Vegas area continued to attract strong tourism business, Laughlin's visitor volume was down 6 percent in June. Hotel occupancy, gaming revenue and highway traffic to the Colorado River town were also down.

Laughlin has struggled in recent years, competing with Las Vegas and Indian casinos in California and Arizona.