Las Vegas expecting bigger crowds this Memorial Day weekend

By Kyle B. Hansen

Friday, May 27, 2011 | 1:55 a.m.

Despite rising gasoline, airfare and hotel prices, more Americans are expected to travel for Memorial Day weekend this year, and Las Vegas is the No. 1 destination, according to some travel experts.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is predicting a 2 percent increase in visitors this year. Those 311,000 people will fill 96 percent of Las Vegas’ hotel rooms and bring a nongaming revenue of $186.2 million, the authority said.

VEGAS.com, a travel website and sister company to the Las Vegas Sun, said the average daily room rate is up 15 percent for the weekend compared with last year, to $148 a night instead of $129 a night, suggesting greater demand for rooms this year.

But the price increase doesn’t seem to be scaring people away or making them spend less on entertainment.

The travel website said visitors have been planning their weekend trips earlier this year, with the booking window, or length of time someone books a trip before arriving, up 6 percent.

And visitors have purchased 20 percent more entertainment packages this year, VEGAS.com said, indicating people are purchasing tickets before arrival instead of at the door.

The expected increase in visitors appears to outpace national trends.

Auto club AAA predicts just a 0.2 percent increase in travel for the holiday, saying 34.9 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles from home instead of the 34.8 million who did so last year.

AAA also said the number of people traveling by car would decrease, likely the result of high gasoline prices. The average April gas price this year is the highest in a decade, with prices 95 cents higher than they were a year ago.

Although auto travel nationally will fall slightly, the number of Americans traveling by air this weekend is expected to rise 11.5 percent compared with last year.

And the rising gasoline prices don’t seem to be changing many plans.

AAA says 58 percent of travelers said gas prices wouldn’t change their plans, and only 10 percent of the people who did say prices would cause them to cut back said they would compensate by making shorter trips.

“Travel continued to see an uptick in early 2011, particularly for those booking vacations well in advance,” said Filomena Andre, the Southern California AAA vice president for travel products and services. “Here at AAA, an increased number of travelers made Memorial Day travel plans in January or February — before the significant gas price increases took place. But even now, we’re hearing from members that they will adjust their spending to make sure they can take a vacation this holiday weekend and throughout this summer.”

Travel website Priceline.com said in a recent survey 68 percent of respondents said a “staycation” wasn’t going to be enough this year.

“This year’s Memorial Day top destinations list suggests that they’re serious about what they said,” said Brian Ek, the website’s travel expert. “Some of the smaller, local ‘drive-up’ cities that were on the list last year have been replaced by larger cities, European countries and popular ‘fly-to’ destinations like Las Vegas and Puerto Rico.”

Las Vegas came in No. 3 on the Expedia list of top destinations for the weekend, behind Chicago and Seattle. But the list also separates Las Vegas into areas, so the region actually appears on the top 50 list four times.

Orbitz said Las Vegas was the No. 1 travel destination for people booking on its website before May 10, followed by New York, Chicago, Honolulu and San Diego.

AAA’s Southern California club also said Las Vegas was the No. 1 destination for its members, both those driving and flying.