Las Vegas' tourism decline is not over yet.
The City of Lights welcomed about 3.41 million visitors last month. While this sounds like a lot, it's actually a bit lower than last year. But it's better compared to the steep declines we saw this past summer and September.
Sin City saw around 3.41 million visitors last month.
This amounts to a drop of 155,000 visitors compared to last year. The good news is that it's not as bad as it was earlier this year. For example, September saw only about 3.09 million visitors, which was a much bigger drop of 8.8%.
So, even though October's numbers are down, it's a step in the right direction.
Plus, the Las Vegas Grand Prix and the long Thanksgiving Day weekend are expected to boost the numbers even more this month, so we could see another bump when the November figures are released.
Tourism Decline in Las Vegas Improves Slightly Over Summer
Over the summer, Las Vegas felt "overpriced," leading to fewer visitors.
There was less demand from international travelers, fewer midweek stays, and a decline in conventions. However, October showed signs of improvement. More people attended conventions, especially at big events like Oracle CloudWorld, which drew about 30,000. This helped boost visitor numbers during the week.
Las Vegas has seen a big drop in visitors from California, Canada, and the Midwest. California, which usually sends the most visitors, saw a large decline, with travel on the I-15 highway down by 4.3% in June.
Canadian visitors have also decreased due to economic and political issues. Although visits from the Midwest have dipped too, the drop isn't as steep.
Even though October showed some improvement, the Las Vegas tourism decline stretched into double digits. October marked the 10th month in a row with fewer visitors compared to the previous year.
Interestingly, even with fewer visitors, casinos are making more money. How? They're getting more from each visitor, attracting high-value guests, and having a favorable run at the tables, especially on the Strip where gaming revenue increased by 8.2%.
Baccarat always appears to be a favorite on the strip, no matter what tourism numbers say.
The Las Vegas Tourism Decline Appears to be Ending
Overall, Las Vegas is not meeting its visitor goals for the year, but this might change soon. Las Vegas is trying to bounce back from sharp declines, focusing on attracting visitors with exciting events and better prices.
Experts from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, predict the city will have over 40 million visitors next year. This is a million more than this year, yet still not as high as the 42 million visitors before the pandemic.
“Absent a new wave of a coronavirus variant, a major financial crisis leading to a significant recession, assuming the war in Ukraine will not widen in scale, and the financial system remains stable, the southern Nevada economy and local tourism sector will experience a mild contraction in much economic activity in the rest of 2025 and in 2026 and 2027” the report said.
Some of the resorts are doing its part. The MGM recently revealed $300 million worth of room renovations. Caesars even tried to improve visitation by announcing a big sale at its properties.
By the end of October, Las Vegas recorded only a little over 30 million visitors; it did show some improvement, but there's still a long way to go to reach previous numbers.
Even though things are still challenging, these efforts could help improve the situation for Las Vegas in the future.
