The Las Vegas airport set an all-time monthly record in October for passengers traveling to and from the city in a further boost to the tourism industry ahead of the Strip’s gaming revenue numbers, which will be released Thursday .
The 5.47 million passengers who traveled through Harry Reid International Airport topped the previous record of 5.18 million passengers in October 2022, an increase of 5.7%. Four of the five largest monthly passenger totals have occurred in 2023: March, May, and July.
The totals are a reflection of the Las Vegas rebound since the pandemic and the population growth of the city, with more residents traveling to other destinations. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will release its October visitation numbers Thursday that will show how much tourism was boosted in October.
The much-anticipated passenger and gaming revenue numbers for November when Las Vegas held its Formula One race won’t be released until the final week of December. There was some concern that the disruptions from the Las Vegas Grand Prix on the Strip might slow tourism leading up to the race.
Rosemary Vassiliadis, Clark County Director of Aviation, said not only was domestic travel at unprecedented volumes in October, more than 300,000 passengers traveled on international flights in a single month for the first time since January 2020.
“(That’s) a very encouraging sign of global aviation recovery,” Vassiliadis said. “As 2023 passenger volume continues to outpace 2022’s levels, we’re seeing the impact of our community’s growth and its evolution into the sports and entertainment capital of the world.”
For the year, the airport has handled 47.9 million passengers, a 9.7% increase over the 43.7 million through October 2022. Domestic passenger totals increased by 5.5% year over year, while international travel rose 10.2% to 315,147. For the year, international travel hit 2.7 million, a 30% increase through the first 10 months of 2022.
Southwest Airlines was the airport leader at 1.96 million, a 14.7% increase over October 2022, followed by Spirit, Delta, Frontier, American, and United.
