Easter, spring break combine for strong visitor weekend

Robert Macy

Friday, April 10, 1998 | 3:29 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - More than 200,000 visitors are expected here over the Easter weekend, with the count bolstered by families taking advantage of spring break.

The holiday weekend follows on the heels of the giant National Association of Broadcasters convention, which drew some 105,000 delegates during a four-day run that ended Thursday. The convention generated an estimated $164.6 million in non-gaming revenue, according to Rob Powers, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

"We expect this to be a very strong weekend," Powers said Friday.

Last year the Easter weekend drew an estimated 205,000 visitors, with the occupancy rate at the city's hotels and motels running 92.7 percent.

Powers said the visitor count would likely run about the same this year, although the occupancy level might be slightly lower because several thousand new hotel rooms have come on line.

The city has added 6,000 new hotel rooms since early 1997, bringing the total to 105,347. Another 20,000 rooms are under construction or planned in the next two years, leaving gaming executives concerned about drawing enough new visitors to fill the rooms.

One major concern is a drop in airline traffic for the first time since 1984. Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, is holding a hearing in Las Vegas next Thursday to address the issue of beefing up air traffic to the city.

Executives are betting that the appeal of new properties that have been built in the past decade, along with new megaresorts now under construction, will bring back repeat business plus generate new customers.

John Marz, vice president of marketing for Circus Circus Enterprises, Inc., told a marketing seminar this week that 30 percent of last year's 32 million visitors were here for the first time and 40 percent had not been to Las Vegas in more than a year.