Las Vegas visitor volume continues to track toward another 42 million-plus year for tourism in Southern Nevada.
Almost 3.7 million people came to Las Vegas in March, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Through the first three months of the year, visitor volume in Las Vegas is up just under 1 percent.
Scott Russell, director of research for the LVCVA, said the agency is “optimistic of exceeding” 42 million visitors this year, “and even surpassing” last year’s figure of 42.1 million.
The market currently has slightly above 148,000 hotel rooms and suites but will loose 1,500 rooms when the Hard Rock Las Vegas is closed for a transformation to the Virgin Hotel Las Vegas in 2020. Officials for the property now say the closure won’t happen until next year.
March was Las Vegas’ first monthly decline in visitation, due in part to a reduced number of convention attendees. Weekend hotel occupancy was up to 97.1 percent thanks to the NCAA basketball tournament, which drew a large number of visitors to the city.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board estimated that gamblers wagered $346.6 million on the NCAA Tournament, primarily the initial four days of games involving 64 teams.
However, Las Vegas Strip gaming revenue has declined in each of the first three months of the year and is down 3.2 percent compared to a year ago.
Downtown Las Vegas hotels are providing a different story. Hotel occupancy is at 86.1 percent through March and gaming revenue is up 3.2 percent for the first three months of 2019.
“Today, roughly half of our Las Vegas visitors make at least one trip to downtown during their visit,” Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith said on his company’s first quarter earnings call on Thursday. Boyd operates three casinos in downtown.
“(That’s) the clear indication of the market’s strong appeal to tourists,” Smith said. “Our Hawaiian customer base, the core of our downtown business remains strong and we continue to benefit from downtown’s growing popularity as a tourist destination.”
Meanwhile, Las Vegas convention attendance fell 15.4 percent in March. Several large shows – National Auto Dealers Association, Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society, and Helicopter Association International – were not held in Las Vegas this year.
McCarran International Airport also continues to attract passengers in large numbers. More than 4.4 million passengers arrived and departed the airport in March, a 2.6 percent increase compared to a year ago.
For the first three months of the year, the airport has seen passenger volume increase 2.6 percent over a year ago. Airport data released Friday show that domestic airlines handled a little more than 4 million of the total number of passengers.
Southwest Airlines remains the busiest carrier at the airport. It reported 1.6 million passengers in March.
McCarran set a record high 49.7 million passengers in 2018.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
