Las Vegas tourism fell year-over-year in October by 155,000 visitors, but edged closer to normal for the first time since the steep drops over the spring and summer. It’s the most positive tourism news after a months-long national and international narrative that Las Vegas is an overpriced market shunned by tourists.
Las Vegas saw 3.4 million visitors in October, a decrease of 4.4% in October from 3.56 million a year ago. That’s the smallest decline since the 1.1% drop in January. Las Vegas has had several months this year with double-digit declines. It was down 8.8% in September and for the year is down 7.6%.
The improvement comes as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and casino-resorts launched value-oriented deals in September to bring tourists back to the city. Las Vegas is coming off its third Formula1 Weekend, which attracted 150,000 people who otherwise wouldn’t have come to the city. Another big crowd is expected for Thanksgiving weekend.
Las Vegas has welcomed 32.3 million visitors through October, down 2.6 million or about 260,000 a month from 34.9 million a year ago.
There were 603,600 convention visitors in October, up from 559,200. For the year, convention attendance is flat at 5.13 million compared to 5.16 million.
“October proved to be a strong convention month with attendance up 7.9% year-over-year, supported in part
by the scheduling shift of Oracle CloudWorld with 30,00 attendees which fell in October this year versus
September last year,” according to the LVCVA.
Hotel occupancy citywide was 83.7% in October, down from 85.7% a year ago. Weekend occupancy reached 92.7% in October, down from 94.6% a year ago. The midweek occupancy was 80.1%, down from 82.6% a year ago. The occupancy on the Strip was 86%, down from 87.8%. Downtown Las Vegas had the steepest decline, falling 5.2% to 75.2%.
The average daily room rate on the Strip was $219.56, down 5.5% from $232.25. Downtown, the average daily rate was $108.43, down 10.9% from $121.73.
Strip revenue per room at $188.82 fell 7.4% from $203.92. It was $81.54 in downtown Las Vegas, down 16.7% from $97.87 a year ago.
Total room nights occupied fell 2.7% year-over-year compared to 6.1% for the entire year.
Numbers from the Harry Reid International Airport won’t be released until next week, but the LVCVA reported vehicle traffic number from southern California rose 0.3% in October. It’s down 2.2% for the year.