Friday, Jan. 16, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Grim numbers continued to frustrate tourism officials with the report in Southern Nevada of a 9.8 percent decline in November visitor volume from a year ago.
Every meaningful statistic was off from November 2007, according the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, as the number of monthly visitors hit its lowest level of the year.
The authority said 2.8 million people came to Southern Nevada in November — the second month that figure dipped below 3 million — and occupancy levels, average daily room rates and convention attendance were down.
Meanwhile, the state Gaming Control Board reported last week that the gaming win was off 14.8 percent to $836.8 million in November. The three-month average from September through November, a better indicator of revenue trends, verified the weakness with a decline of 14.4 percent.
Clark County gaming win was off 15.2 percent to $702.6 million, and the Strip win was down 16 percent to $437.7 million, the lowest monthly total in five years.
Every area in the state showed declines in November with the worst reported in North Lake Tahoe, down 26.9 percent to $2 million.
The gaming win was down 1.6 percent to $48 million in downtown Las Vegas, 1.8 percent to $19.4 million in North Las Vegas, 16.3 percent to $54.9 million on the Boulder strip, 18.1 percent to $41.8 million in Laughlin and 8.8 percent to $11.4 million in Mesquite.
North Las Vegas and the Boulder strip benefited from new casinos generating revenue with the openings of Aliante Station and the Eastside Cannery, respectively.
Hotel and motel occupancy rates plummeted to below 80 percent for the first time this year. The authority said citywide, the rate was down 7.7 points to 79.2 percent, in part because of the 3.1 percent increase in room inventory as a result of the Aliante and Eastside Cannery openings.
Motel occupancy took the biggest hit, down 10 points to 50.1 percent.
More telling was the continued plummet of average daily room rates. In November the level fell 8.1 percent to $108.80, the lowest rate since summer. For the year to date, the rate is off 9.5 percent to $121.01.
The number of conventions, meetings and trade shows in Las Vegas fell 13.6 percent to 1,774 and attendance at those shows was off 16.4 percent to 503,545 for the month.
Things were even worse in Laughlin and Mesquite.
Visitor volume in Laughlin was off 11 percent to 204,022 for the month, and hotel occupancy was down 4.7 points to 60.4 percent. The average daily room rate, however, was up 15.9 percent to $44.01.
In Mesquite, visitor volume fell 19.3 percent to 106,370, hotel occupancy was off 15.6 points to 68.7 percent and the average daily room rate fell 16.7 percent to $50.09.
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