Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Las Vegas visitor numbers increase 3.5 percent in August

A spike in convention attendance helped bring an increase in visitors to Las Vegas in August compared to a year earlier.

Monthly visitor volume has surpassed the prior year's level in Las Vegas 11 of the past 12 months -- the only drop being a 0.1 percent decline in February.

The number of visitors during August increased by 3.5 percent from fewer than 3.1 million in August 2009 to more than 3.2 million this year, according to a report today by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The LVCVA said August tourism numbers benefited from tradeshows being scheduled in August this year instead of other months last year.

Two larger shows that fell in August instead of September this year were MAGIC, with about 75,000 attendees, and the World Market Center's semiannual event that attracted nearly 50,000 people. Convention attendance increased by more than 46 percent in August.

Citywide hotel occupancy increased slightly to 82 percent as the number of rooms increased by about 7,000 since last August, primarily due to the addition of CityCenter.

The average daily room rate increased 4 percent from $84.02 in August 2009 to $87.40 this past August, the LVCVA said. Room rates are still down significantly from pre-recession levels.

Overall gaming revenue surged 13.8 percent from $708 million in August 2009 to $806 million in August of this year. Gaming win on the Strip shot up 21.1 percent.

Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport was down 0.4 percent, but vehicle traffic on Interstate 15 at the Nevada/California state line was up 4.4 percent.

Visitor volume to Laughlin dropped 4.6 percent from August 2009 to August 2010, while the number of visitors increased 9.2 percent in Mesquite.

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