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Las Vegas sees first monthly visitor increase since May 2008
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 | 12:49 p.m.
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Las Vegas saw some signs of relief during the month of September as the city recorded its first year-over-year increase in visitor volume since May 2008, according to numbers released today.
The number of visitors during the month of September increased 4.3 percent from about 2.9 million visitors in September 2008 to more than 3 million in September 2009, according to a report released by the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority.
Citywide hotel occupancy fell 1.1 percentage points to 83.2 percent in September 2009 from 84.3 percent in September 2008. That number is the smallest year-over-year decline in citywide occupancy since February 2008.
September also saw a year-over-year increase in weekend occupancy for the third time in 2009. Weekend occupancy rose 3.1 percentage points from 88.4 percent in September 2008 to 91.5 percent in September 2009.
Both gaming revenues and average daily room rates saw declines during the month of September compared to last year. Average room rates tumbled 19 percent from $112.58 in September 2008 to $91.18 this past September. Gaming revenue fell 9.3 percent from $855 million to $774 million during the year-over-year period.
Convention attendance was up 12.2 percent for the month as larger conventions like MAGIC and the World Market Center’s fall show took place during the month of September, the LVCVA said. The spike is the first year-over-year increase in convention attendance since July 2008.
Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport was down 1.2 percent, but vehicle traffic on Interstate 15 at the Nevada/California line was up 9.9 percent.
Visitor volume to Laughlin dropped 3.1 percent from September 2008 to September 2009 while the number of visitors increased 0.7 percent in Mesquite.
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Yeah, more traffic at the airport doesn't mean more money being gambled. The room rates remain low and will probably remain low for a few months. That's a good sign for us tourists, but not a guarantee for the casinos to make more money guaranteed. The dollar versus Euro and other currencies has become extremely weak so that would indicate that more tourists will come to Vegas. Smart management is needed to take advantage of this new changes and adjust the strategies accordingly.
Greetings from Switzerland
this is great news! the bottom has finally hit in visitation and now things will start to grow again. CityCenter should be the catalyst to lead Vegas into the next boom cycle. Get on for the ride!!! Always bet on black and Vegas!!!
OK, now for some context, which the Sun almost always fails to provide.
Sept. 2009 visitation: 3,062,340
Sept. 2008 visitation: 2,936,499
Sept. 2007 visitation: 3,268,125
(These are all LVCVA numbers; some of us keep track of those records; apparently the Sun doesn't.)
So we're still 205,785 visitors behind 2007. That means visitation is down 6.2 percent from two years ago.
Party on, Sun.
Who cares judge? The numbers are up from last year, and that's only a good thing for Vegas.
Jeez, what's with all the negativity? I thought I left all that behind when I left California!
No really, the numbers are an improvement. As I've said before, I think we hit bottom earlier this year and can now look onward and upward. We may not be back to 2005/2006 highs for a couple more years, but at least we're growing again.
Visitor numbers have to go up if we are to see any kind of recovery. Any positive change, no matter how slight, is welcome news to this Las Vegan.
Hey,, I know where that 0.7% increase in visitors for Mesquite came from....... My buddy started going there to visit his girlfriend last month!!! That's the one more visitor!!(no money spent though)
Yes, it's tough to blame the casinos for the blight of Vegas when there is now an increase in tourist travel. Oh wait, those who hate will continue to complain.
Keep the people flowing in!
So, we have more people in town then 1 year ago, but they did not leave any extra money behind. Next month the airline cutbacks start (can't remember the name of the airline that is cutting over half its flight to Vegas) so we can expect lower numbers again.
This depression is far from over, it is going to take years ofr Vegas/Nevada to recover because once the recovery starts, too many people got hurt, and will remember what it was like to have lost everything. If you think that Vegas will be like it used to be, dream on. When someone buys a house for 259K and puts it on the market today at 109K, Vegas is in for a long haul.
I believe that a lot of the numbers are "spun" by the infamous Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority. Much like mainstream media is now reporting that "the resssion is over, go spend all your money", I think that LVVCA overstates what is really going on....
Oh well....
The number of people that showed up in Vegas went up, everything is great now, I canmake my house payment, my car payment and go party all weekend!!!
Wow, nothing will please these super pessimistic bloggers here. Any increase in visitor count is a postive thing and stop comparing to some better number in the past. It's about time we start thinking as half-full instead of always half-empty. We can't regain all the good old glory days in one month but we will gain them back little by little.
I knew that R&R ad would start working it's magic right away...
this is good news, but not great news. we need 3 months in a row of this before we can really say we're getting better.
no educated person can say "we're at the bottom" right now. we won't know we've "hit bottom" until we're well past it.
all the p.r. and suits said we had hit bottom last fall.
This visitor increase has to be Oabamas' fault or Reids' fault doesn't it?!?!?!
We need any good news, and we should applaud all good news...as slight as it might be. Numbers are skewed as some conventions in September 2009 took place in August in 2008...as well as Labor Day. But let's run with the news and the slight glimmer of hope! Be positive!
I think there is a relatively permanent change of about 10% in peoples' habits due to the fact they cant continue to borrow money against their houses like they did.
So quit crying over it, and get used to it. Things were not so bad in 2007 as I remember. Just not what they were in the top of the bubble !!
Good news...small but good news just the same.Lets hope next month will be as good or at least going in the right direction
thats like saying they changed from 105mm artillery shells to 88's. be realistic about the economy and if you can, cut up those charge cards.
vegasguy and atdleft
When the numbers keep going up for 6 months straight and more - THEN get excited. As that old cheesy saying goes: Don't be countin' your chickens before they hatch
Also, these numbers were for September. As someone mentioned - conventions and Labor Day (which is a very busy weekend in Vegas).
We're heading into the holiday season. Even the airlines are feeling the pinch big time. Bookings for Thanksgiving are down from the normal heavy volume usually sseen at that time. (Of course, it doesn't help that they nickel and dime you to death and the fares are ridiculous! Who knows - half the pilots may be forced into AA by then). Vegas is slow during the holidays. Maybe City Center will bring in people, but it's not going to make a big dent in the downhill spiral of the tourism numbers. My guess you all won't be too impressed by what you will be hearing in another few months. And I honestly hope I'm wrong about that!!
Are you writing here only short-time visitors, or somebody moving out of town ? Short-time visitors should be more likely long-time visitors to make any significant numbers. I would love to see the increasing numbers and days for newly refreshed honeymoons, don't you make it once, make it twice.
Much of the retail are beating last years sales numbers, I know this to be true for the forum shops and outlets. Working the retail field for the last 4 years or so, I can honestly say there is improvement over last year.
Vegas is in the crapper!!