Southern Nevada’s tourism industry again reached record levels in visitor spending in 2024, while they spent less on gambling, according to a report from research firm Applied Analysis.
The study, on behalf of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reviewing the economic impact of the tourism industry, detailed the increase in visitation of 2.1% in 2024 to 41.7 million, the closest to the pre-pandemic level of 42.5 million in 2019. Travel to the area peaked in March at almost 3.7 million visitors.
Visitation increased year-over-year in all but two months last year.
The economic impacts of southern Nevada’s tourism industry are driven by visitor spending on rooms, dining, shopping, local transportation, and other activities and amenities. It directly supports jobs, wages, and economic activity and ripples through the economy to generate additional impacts via suppliers and vendors, as well as employee spending on goods and services in the community, the report said.
Visitor spending hit an all-time high for the third consecutive year, totaling $55.1 billion, up 7% from 2023. The pace of growth was tempered compared to the spending boom that followed the pandemic, according to the report.
Per-visit spending grew to $1,322 in 2024, 4.8% higher than in 2023 and 52.6% higher than 2019. By comparison, spending grew by 24.4 percent in 2022 and 14.7 percent in 2023. Spending increased for most categories, while it decreased in gaming, sightseeing, and sporting-event attendance (excluding the outlier of Super Bowl LVIII).
Shopping reported the largest dollar increase, rising from $249 to $281 per visitor (+12.8%).
Spending shares among categories remained mostly stable. The share of spending on shopping increased the most at 1.5 percentage points.
The decline in gaming share was tied to bankrolls falling from $248 to $244 (-1.4%). The dip coincided with a slowdown in the second half of the year at Las Vegas Strip casinos where year-over-year gaming revenues declined for six straight months to close out 2024. Overall, annual revenue on the Strip decreased $88.2 million (-1.0%).
Southern Nevada’s annual visitor volume rose for a fourth consecutive year in 2024, which underscores the region’s recovery following the economic turmoil of the pandemic and related response, the report said.
The boost was aided by large-scale events. Super Bowl LVIII, hosted at Allegiant Stadium, drew 325,000 visitors to Southern Nevada, while the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend expanded its footprint downtown with the three-night Neon City Festival. Attendance at the National Finals Rodeo surpassed 170,000 across 10 performances, up from 157,580 in 2023. The Durango Casino and Resort and Fontainebleau saw their first full year of operation after opening in December 2023.
In 2024, total economic output related to visitor spending (including direct, indirect, and induced impacts) rose 3% to $87.7 billion, surpassing the all-time high set in 2023, the report said.
Southern Nevada’s tourism industry directly employed an estimated 252,610 workers, about 4,100 more jobs (+1.6%) than in 2023. With indirect and induced impacts included, total employment impacts were an estimated 385,330, a 1.5% increase from the prior.
Southern Nevada’s tourism industry supported $14.6 billion in direct wages or 20.5% of all wages in the region. The additional indirect and induced impacts supported wages for workers across many sectors of the economy, with a total wage impact of $21.3 billion or 30% of all regional wages.
Convention attendance held steady at 6 million in 2024, a 0.1% annual increase. The slow growth in attendance could be attributed to the absence of some shows in 2024, including CONEXPO‐CON/AGG, MINExpo and TwitchCon, the report said. Total convention and trade show attendance remained about 10 percent below 2019 levels.
Historically, the convention segment boosts visitation during weekdays and helps keep room occupancy rates high when leisure visitors are less likely to be in town. While 2024 convention attendance remained 10% below pre-pandemic levels, southern Nevada’s convention and meeting segment generated notable economic impacts during the year.
The average convention visitor spent $1,681 per trip, 33.2% higher than the $1,262 spent by the average leisure visitor. Because of their higher average spending profile, convention visitors generate higher per-capita economic impacts in Southern Nevada than leisure visitors.
In 2024, convention visitors spent $10.1 billion, directly supporting an estimated 46,200 jobs and $2.7 billion in wages. When the indirect and induced impacts of convention visitor spending are included, the sector supported an estimated 70,470 jobs, $3.9 billion in wages, and $16 billion in overall economic output in southern Nevada, illustrating the segment’s importance to the tourism industry.
The Las Vegas Convention Center is a key component of southern Nevada’s convention and meeting segment, hosting about one-fifth of regional convention attendees per year. In 2024, the LVCC hosted 47 conventions with a combined attendance of 1.1 million, accounting for 18.2 percent of regional convention attendees in 2024, down 1.6 percentage points from 2023. Those attendees spent $1.8 billion, which directly supported 8,420 jobs and $487.2 million in wages, the report said.
When the indirect and induced impacts are included, those totals rise to 12,840 jobs, $710.1 million in wages, and $2.9 billion in economic output.
In 2024, industry employment rose by 1.6% to 252,610, while total employment related to tourism increased 1.5 percent to 385,330. Compared to 2019, total employment grew by about 8,490 (2.3%).
Hotels and casinos directly employed 146,490 workers, a 7.2% increase over 2023. The total represented 13.1% of regional employment and 14.6% of private employment. When factoring in all other tourism-related jobs, the southern Nevada tourism industry directly employed 22.6% of the region’s total workforce and 25.2% of private-sector employment.
Beyond the workers directly supported by visitor spending, additional jobs were created by its ripple effects. Indirect or secondary impacts are generated by tourism-related businesses contracting with suppliers and other businesses, which in turn have their own employees.
Tourism-industry employees also spend their earnings throughout the community, supporting other jobs in induced impacts. In all, the employment impacts of visitor spending totaled 385,330 jobs when indirect and induced impacts are combined with direct impacts, the report said.
Southern Nevada tourism workers earned direct wages and salaries of $14.6 billion in 2024, a 5.6% increase from 2023. The direct wages earned by the tourism workforce accounted for 20.5 percent of all wages earned in southern Nevada during the year and 23.5% of all earnings among private industry workers, the report said.
As tourism industry employees spend their wages throughout at stores, doctors’ offices, restaurants, and other local businesses, they generate induced impacts estimated at $4 billion in 2024.
When the direct, indirect, and induced impacts are combined, they total $21.3 billion in wages and salaries throughout southern Nevada that were supported by visitor spending. That total accounted for 30% of all wages paid and 34.3% of all private wages during the year.
The direct economic output associated with Southern Nevada’s tourism industry in 2024 is equal to the $55.1 billion of aggregate visitor spending. That total accounted for 30.9% of the region’s estimated gross domestic product of $178.4 billion.
“Although these two concepts are not perfectly aligned, the relationship illustrates the relative size and significant importance of Southern Nevada’s tourism industry to the regional economy,” the report said.
