LV visitor volume flat in January

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 | 10:48 a.m.

Rain, mudslides and calendar abnormalities resulted in a surprise in visitor volume statistics for January: They were almost unchanged, just down from the previous year.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority announced Monday that January visitor volume was off 0.2 percent to 3.048 million, down 6,000 people from the 3.054 million people reported in January 2004.

"There were actually three things working against us," said Kevin Bagger, director of Internet marketing and research for the LVCVA. "There was one less weekend in January 2005 compared to January 2004, all of the Super Bowl festivities fell in February this year while most of it was in January the year before and the substantial rain and mudslides in Southern California discouraged travel.

"Collectively, we had a flat month."

Convention attendance was up and the economic indicators showed a healthy performance for the month. Bolstered by record attendance at the International Consumer Electronics Show and the first-time appearance in Las Vegas of the World of Concrete trade show, convention attendance soared 13 percent to 931,769 people.

The nongaming economic impact of conventions soared 16.2 percent to $1.167 billion.

The flat visitor volume, coupled with an increase in room inventory resulted in occupancy levels being down 1 point to 83.2 percent. Still, the average daily room rate was up 8.3 percent to $106.15 a night.

Bagger said expansions at the Bellagio and Green Valley Ranch and the opening of the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel resulted in a 1 percent increase in room inventory to 131,331. Weekend room occupancy was off 0.9 points and midweek occupancy was down 0.6 points.

"The statistics show we're absorbing the new inventory, which resulted in a slight decline in occupancy," Bagger said.

Just as the January 2005 calendar didn't do Las Vegas any favors, the unusually wet weather also produced a negative impact on visitation. The amount of traffic reported at the California border on Interstate 15 was down 6.5 percent to 31,972 vehicles.

Laughlin also was affected by California's wet weather, with visitation down 6 percent to 327,271 for the month. Like Las Vegas, the Colorado River community benefitted from a strong convention calendar with meeting attendance up 13.9 percent to 11,391 for the month.

The visitor volume for Mesquite was up 1.1 percent to 137,108 people and occupancy was up 5.7 points to 84.6 percent for the month.

The average daily room rate was up for both Laughlin and Mesquite. In Laughlin, the rate was up 2.7 percent to $29.94 a night while in Mesquite, the rate was up 5.8 percent to $35.37.