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Las Vegas visitor traffic falls 8 percent in February
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 11:28 a.m.
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The number of visitors to Las Vegas declined 8 percent in February compared to a year ago, according to numbers released today by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
The LVCVA reported that 2,858,545 people visited the city in February, down from 3,107,997 visitors in February 2008. This past February had one less day because 2008 was a leap year.
The inventory of rooms was up nearly 4 percent from last year, at 140,729 in the Las Vegas area. Hotel occupancy dropped from 89.4 percent in 2008 to 83.9 percent this past February.
Average room rates tumbled 22.9 percent, from $128.80 to $99.25. The number of hotel room nights in the valley dropped about 5 percent to 3.3 million.
Convention attendance plummeted nearly 35 percent, from 893,982 visitors in February 2008 to 583,168 this past February. The number of meetings held here dropped nearly 16 percent.
Air passenger traffic is down about 15 percent. Average daily traffic on Interstate 15 at the Nevada/California line fell 0.1 percent.
The LVCVA said the numbers suggest a greater proportion of visitors are arriving by car this year than last year.
Visitor volume fell 17 percent in Laughlin and nearly 32 percent in Mesquite over the past year.
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You cannot go to the Super Bowl or Las Vegas on the taxpayers dime. Thank you Mr. President. The loss of jobs was appreciated.
Well let us see, Vegas has been kind of putting it to the tourist for the last few years. So less people visiting when times are tough. I wonder maybe we tourist fell it is not such good value trip anymore. Any thought on that?
Neiman1 give it up. Everybody is tired of you knocking and blaming Obama. Open your eyes to news reports and comments, the Vegas problems started awhile ago. And why should my tax dollars be spent on jobs in Vegas why should America finance your fragile economy. We want it to stay in the state of California (yes we do send more money in taxes to washington than any other state).
lol neiman1.I do not agree with your statement one bit but Im thinking that you did not vote for him
Thanks Obama.
tannsummers are you and neiman1 related? Or does neiman1 have another screen name?
Thanks felix28!!
I'll tell all about Neiman1:
You can teach an old dog new tricks but you can't teach a dumb dog nothing.
Now I can add tannsummers to the list.
Again, if the two of you are so opposed to what Obama said about Vegas, why on earth do you continue to live in purgatory?!?!?
GET OUT!! MOVE!! GO SOMEPLACE OBAMA HASN'T DAMNED!!
That is not bad considering the fact that the stock market and many other metrics are off by 50%. While the drop in prices of rooms seems steep, we have to put things in perspective -- given where personal spending is today, Las Vegas is holding up quite well.
Vivek L
http://www.smallbusinessplanresources.co...
Are these people just plain stupid,or are there heads so far up their backsides to see that they did it all by themselves? THE PEOPLE DONT WANT CHEAP FREAK SHOWS! THEY WANT MORE BANG FROM THERE BUCK,AND IF THEY HAVENT SEEN THIS YET,VEGAS WILL NEVER RECOVER! What bothers me most here is,not only did they take themselves down,but alot of people that gave there blood sweat and tears and are no longer employed! All of vegas woes sit on the shoulders of all these masters of the strip! Now comes the time for them to give back WHAT THEY STOLE! Think about it you bunch of ding dongs,you asked for locals to come and help bail you out? How many fools took you up on that one? Sounds like not many.