Hotel visitor volume was up before terrorist strikes

Friday, Oct. 12, 2001 | 10:06 a.m.

Las Vegas hotels had experienced a good month for visitor volume prior to the terrorist attacks, said the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Visitor volume was up 2.4 percent in August compared to the same month last year. More than 3.2 million people stayed in local hotels in August, compared to 3.13 million in August 2000.

While convention business has suffered dramatically since Sept. 11, the August numbers indicated a strong month. Convention attendance was up 16.2 percent in August compared to August 2000.

There were 416,865 Las Vegas conference attendees in August that brought an economic nongaming impact of $502.6 million to the valley.

That compares with 358,691 attendees with an economic impact of $410.7 million in August 2000.

However, Laughlin's visitor volume in August was down 1.6 percent compared with the same month last year. There were 398,957 visitors in August compared with 405,505 in August 2000.

Mesquite visitors were also down 19.1 percent in August, with 149,788 visitors compared with 125,728 visitors in August 2000.