tourism:

Las Vegas sees 11 percent drop in visitors

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009 | 12:31 p.m.

See the December numbers from the LVCVA

The number of visitors to Las Vegas in December 2008 dropped nearly 11 percent compared to the same time the previous year.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said 2,739,699 people visited the city, compared to 3,075,831 visitors in December 2007, for a drop of 10.9 percent.

During that time period, hotel occupancy dropped from 83.2 percent to 73.3 percent. Average daily room rates fell more than 14 percent, from $112.36 in December 2007 to $96.39 in December 2008, the LVCVA reported.

The number of conventions in Las Vegas dropped almost 17 percent, from 1,285 to 1,071, while the number of people attending those conventions fell 4.7 percent, to 123,588 people in December 2008.

The LVCVA said the number of air passengers arriving and leaving Las Vegas fell 14.1 percent in the past year.

The total number of visitors to Las Vegas in 2008 was 37,481,552, which is a fall of 4.4 percent compared to 39,196,761 visitors in 2007.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By LasVegas2009

2/10/09 at 1:06 p.m.

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Another high profile financial firm is canceling a trip to Las Vegas after the backlash faced by Wells Fargo.

Goldman Sachs has moved a three-day technology conference from the Las Vegas Strip to San Francisco amid what the firm is calling a broad review of its activities. Goldman, which has accepted $10 billion in federal bailout funds, will hold its Technology and Internet Conference Feb. 25-27 at the San Francisco Marriott instead of the Mandalay Bay casino-resort.

A Mandalay Bay official told the Associated Press that Goldman Sachs agreed to pay the resort $600,000 to cancel the trip.
By boftx

2/10/09 at 1:47 p.m.

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In the early '60s my brother and tens of thousands of job-shoppers like him in aerospace hated Kennedy for killing the industry in California by spreading it around the country. Today, I feel the same towards the idiots in D.C. (both old and new) who are doing the same to Las Vegas.
By neiman1

2/10/09 at 2:54 p.m.

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Our President and his buddy harry Reid held up Wells Fargo as morally bankrupt for scheduling a retreat in Las Vegas. No company will risk that now, no matter if they received bailout funds. No company executive will want his shareholders claiming the same at the next shareholders meeting. Las Vegas and the state of Nevada have been sold out by Obama and Reid. Thanks for the new politics of fear.
By johnevegas

2/10/09 at 3:43 p.m.

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"Our President..."

Nice to hear that coming from you. But let me de-spin your rant.

Wells Fargo was chastised for expensive retreats. Not for going to Vegas. N'kay? Big difference.

You can't have this both ways. You can't complain about them giving this money to banks and also complain when they tell the banks to reign in their spending if they are taking the money. That makes it sound like you'll have a complaint about anything they do so long as it's them doing it.
By redferret

2/10/09 at 3:50 p.m.

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John,
neiman just wants to complain, even if he looks really silly doing it. By extension should the spa and golf people be ticked off that AIG was caught trying to go to courses and spas for a retreat?
The problem is that these people have taken OUR money and are blowing it like drunk sailors on shore leave. The problem isn't the location, it's the journey. Why are they having conferences and retreats to expensive areas when they are bleeding money.
By jfnance32

2/10/09 at 6:17 p.m.

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There is another news story about a company that canceled it trip to Vegas and changed it to San Fran.

I bet Wells Fargo is going to send its people to another location, too.

I can see why companies do not want get the bad attention for coming to Vegas when they are laying off people.

National companies have to gather occasionally at some central location for various reasons.

They will go somewhere else. It is too bad that we are getting this rep.

It is becoming too risky to come to Vegas.
By johnevegas

2/10/09 at 6:32 p.m.

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"Why are they having conferences and retreats to expensive areas when they are bleeding money."

Because marketing and sales drive everything. As I recall, that's what this was for. Those people.

I know it seems dumb, but when you understand the connection it makes more sense. It's a normal and expected was to energize the masses in your company this way. Especially those departments. The payoff is worth it, obviously, though marketing is always hard to quantify.

I think this looked bad. That's all. I do not think it was bad.

I think the big reaction in Washington was about how it made them look bad and not that they actually thought the companies were being wasteful. Those people know how businesses work. Oh, wait, maybe that's the problem!
By suzievb

2/11/09 at 11:09 a.m.

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The room rates aren't the only problem. It's the fact that these hotels rape you on food and drinks. $8 to $10 for a bottle of beer? $6 for a bottle of water that costs .99 everywhere else? Not to mention and average breakfast is over $40 for two. Who can afford this plus gamble? We don't pay these prices in Downtown Chicago. Everyone we talk to that use to come out there frequently stopped not only because of the rooms, but mainly because of the food and drink prices. Las Vegas has fallen into the Corporate Greed, and is no longer the inexpensive trip anymore.
By esquared

2/12/09 at 9:30 a.m.

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Vegas has no one to blame but itself. Tough decisions have been but off for years by the GOP controlled legislature and governor's office and, go figure, now Nevada is in the fiscal toilet. To pinion an entire state's economy on, not merely the existence of disposable income, but on the willingness to throw it away on cheap thrills by people worldwide borders on criminal. Goodman is a boob. Instead of playing the hurt old man with the showgirls draped around him, he should be up in Carson City demanding tax reform and out trying to bring companies into Nevada. He should be hawking renewable energy and aerospace, de-salinization and mag-lev light rail, not boobs and black-jack. Investment houses around the world are downgrading casino and gaming stocks that have deep connections to Las Vegas because the long-term trend is away from travel solely for the purpose of blowing money. The casinos you see in the next 3 years will be the same casinos in 20 years. There will be no more. The cycle of spend is utterly ending and that spells doom for Nevada unless they dismount their 'one-trick pony.' Just read the stock reports for Sands and I.G.T. Gaming is de-centralizing throughout the country but Gibbons and Goodman just don't have the stones to admit it and act upon it.

BTW: Short-notice medium size conference and meeting (100 to 250 attendees) bookings in Chicago AND Milwaukee were UP by 12% in January 09. Companies still have to meet, they're just not meeting in Vegas. Why should they? Vegas is distraction personified and now is the time for focus.