Casino revenues, visitor count continue to climb

Monday, June 26, 2000 | 2:33 a.m.

Casino revenues and the visitor count are expected to continue their upward climb here, Wall Street analysts say.

The city drew more than 3 million people in April, up 8.3 percent from a year ago, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported.

The visitor count through April was 11.8 million, compared with 10.8 million for the first four months of 1999.

Strip gambling revenues were $388 million, up 19.1 percent for April 2000 compared with the same month a year ago.

McCarran International Airport reported 3.1 million arriving and departing passengers in April, up 10.6 percent over April 1999.

Automobile traffic on Interstate 15 near Barstow, Calif. was nearly 510,000 a 20.7 percent increase from April 1999.

"We are particulary encouraged by the continued growth in visitation as the market overcame an 11 percent decrease in convention attendance, which we believe was caused by the timing of the Easter holiday this year," said Jason Ader, a gaming and lodging analyst for Bear, Stearns & Co.

A favorable April calendar, which had an extra weekend compared with April 1999, helped boost Las Vegas to an easy year-over-year comparison of visitors, said Michael Rietbrock of Salomon Smith Barney.

With the only new resort in the pipeline - the Aladdin - scheduled to open Aug. 17, Rietbrock expects visitor volume for the remainder of the year to remain in the low- to mid-single digits.

"Las Vegas clearly remains a healthy market, and April results should bode well for second-quarter earnings reports," he said.

Strip hotel rooms reported an average of 95.7 percent occupancy, up 0.8 percentage points from a year ago. Total room nights occupied was 3.4 million, a 9 percent increase.

"As April visitation represents the first month of the second quarter for most operators, we are particularly encouraged by the continued strength in business trends and volumes, which have remained equally robust with first-quarter levels," Ader told a Las Vegas newspaper.