Visitor numbers, room rates increase in March

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Published Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | 12:11 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | 1:15 p.m.

The number of visitors to Las Vegas in March increased compared to a year ago, according to numbers released today.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said 3,224,697 people visited the city in March, compared to 3,202,344 visitors in March 2009, which is an increase of 0.7 percent. March marks the seventh straight month of visitor volume exceeding prior year levels.

Hotel occupancy across the valley dropped 3.5 percent because about 8,000 additional hotel rooms were added in the past year, bringing the total number of rooms to 148,891.

The average daily room rate increased 0.8 percent in the past year, from $92.46 to $93.23, the LVCVA said. The number of room nights occupied increased 0.8 percent to nearly 3.8 million.

Convention attendance was up 5.2 percent, while the number of conventions dropped 2.9 percent, according to the LVCVA numbers.

The number of passengers arriving to and departing from McCarran International Airport dropped 4 percent, while traffic at the Nevada/California line on Interstate 15 was up 6.2 percent.

Elsewhere in Clark County, visitor volume slumped 4.1 percent in Laughlin and was down 16.1 percent in Mesquite.

At the LVCVA’s monthly board meeting Tuesday, Vice President of Finance Brenda Siddall presented the association’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year.

The authority is expecting $150 million to be generated in room taxes, the same as it expects for the current fiscal year.

It also expects to have other revenue of $50 million, primarily from use of the convention center, but revenue would still be about $20 million short of covering expenses, Siddall said.

The authority has already has a hiring freeze and has stopped wage increases, so additional cuts would have to come from spending on programs and advertising, Siddall said. The proposed budget includes a $15.6 million cut to the advertising budget, from $87.4 million to $71.8 million.

The LVCVA’s board will hold a public hearing and vote on the budget in a special meeting May 20.