Report: 4.9 percent jump in tourism traffic

Robert Macy

Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998 | 1:51 a.m.

Spurred by the opening of the new Bellagio resort, Las Vegas' visitor volume jumped 4.9 percent in October over the same month a year ago.

The increase was the highest monthly hike since April 1997, according to figures released Thursday by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The visitor count remains down 0.2 percent for the first 10 months of 1998 compared to 1997.

Room occupancy was also strong, increasing 2.3 percent to 89.4 percent. The increase comes at a time the city has added 6 percent in additional rooms, with a current total of 109,721.

Bellagio opened Oct. 15, the first new resort to open on the Strip in two years.

The visitor count for October was 2,759,837, compared to 2,630,184 for the same month a year ago. The visitor count through October 1998 is 25,602,134, compared to 25,657,168 for the first 10 months of 1997.

"October has traditionally been a strong month for Las Vegas," said Manny Cortez, LVCVA president. "Visitor volume is one of the key gauges of our success, and our goal is to achieve steady increases along with the citywide growth in room inventory."

Resort officials have been concerned about the flat visitor figures at a time when the city is adding thousands of hotel rooms to its inventory. Four new resort hotels - Mandalay Bay, The Venetian, Paris-Las Vegas and The Resort at Summerlin - are scheduled to open in 1999, with the Aladdin set to open in 2000.

The boost in visitor volume translated to an 11.7 percent increase in Clark County gambling revenues, with a 15.7 percent increase among Strip casinos.

Vehicle traffic from Southern California was up 4.4 percent for October, 388,068 people compared to 371,555 a year ago. The traffic count at the Yermo, Calif. inspection station was up 1.8 percent for the first 10 months of 1998, with 4,221,201 people compared to 4,146,952 for the same period in 1997.