Led by growth in the Los Angeles area, California airports flew 48% more visitors to Las Vegas in 2022, while London closed the gap on Toronto for the top international feeder market into southern Nevada. Mexico City fell to third.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority released its annual report this week on what airport travelers arrived from when they flew into Harry Reid International Airport last year.
Among the U.S. cities, Los Angeles continued to grow its market share and pulled further away from the San Francisco Bay Area. Southern California, which includes LAX and airports in Burbank, Orange County, Ontario, Long Beach, San Bernardino, and Palm Springs, was the origin for 1.75 million people flying to Las Vegas in 2022, a 50.6% increase over the 1.16 million in 2021 and the highest total going back to 2017.
San Francisco, which also includes airports in Oakland and San Jose, originated 1.28 million passengers to Las Vegas last year, a 43.3% increase over 2021.
The gap between travel from Los Angeles and San Francisco has widened since the pandemic. In 2019, Los Angeles had 1.56 million travelers compared to 1.52 million from San Francisco.
The Los Angeles market share in 2022 was 9.2%, up from 8.4% in 2019 prior to the pandemic. San Francisco was 6.7% in 2022, down from 8.2% in 2019.
Reduced air travel from Asia may in part explain the decline in San Francisco visitation, since many passengers fly into a California destination before coming to Las Vegas. Elevated gas prices and traffic jams on I-15 also helped boost air travel from southern California.
San Diego had the largest percentage growth among major U.S. hubs in 2022 at 69.8%. It went from 282,292 in 2021 to 479,721 in 2022 and ranked number 10.
Overall, California delivered 4.24 million visitors to Las Vegas in 2022, a 47.8% increase over the 2.87 million in 2021 for a 22% market share, up from 18.2% in 2021 and 21.7% in 2019.
Texas ranked second with 2.1 million, an 11% increase over the 1.88 million in 2021. Florida, Washington, Illinois, Colorado, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Oregon, Michigan, Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio, and Utah round out the top 20 states. Nevada based on flights from Reno was Number21 among states.
New York had the biggest increase among states at 54.9%. Illinois, Michigan, and Georgia reported slight declines.
The New York City area held onto the third spot among U.S. cities in 2022 with 821,467 visitors, a 35.1% increase over the 607,995 in 2021. New York’s market share of 4.3% is down from the 5%-plus average from 2017 to 2019. The New York airports include Islip, JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark.
Chicago dropped one spot to number 4 and was one of the rare cities to have a decline from 2021. Its 755,045 visitors in 2022 were a decline of 3.4% from 781,890 in 2021.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area ranked number 5 with 722,905 visitors, a 7.7% increase over 671,386 in 2021.
Seattle was sixth with 682,629, a 10.3% increase over 618,830 in 2021.
Denver was seventh with 643,870, a 20.8% increase over 532,885 in 2021.
Houston was eighth with 533,406, a 5.8% increase over the 504,227 in 2021.
Atlanta was ninth with 485,535, an 8.3% decrease from 529,634 in 2021.
The other cities in order of visitors in 2022 and their percentage increase from 2021 include: Phoenix, up 39.3%; Washington, D.C., up 23.2%; Minneapolis, up 6.5%; Sacramento, up 36.4%; Miami, up 9.7%; Detroit, down 10.8%; Portland, up 14.5%; Austin, up 21.7%; Honolulu, up 41.8%; Salt Lake City, up 34.9%; Reno, up 32%; Orlando, up 4.5%; Boston, up 46.2%; Philadelphia, up 9.2%; St. Louis, up 9.9%; San Antonio, up 16.2%; Charlotte, up 16.3%; Nashville, up 20.8%; Tampa, up 7.6%; Kansas City, up 12%; Indianapolis, up 6.4%; Cleveland, down 1.8%; Cincinnati, up 4.9%; New Orleans, up 22%; Milwaukee, up 4.3%; and Fresno, up 40.3%.
They were followed by Raleigh (North Carolina), Columbus, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque, Memphis, Omaha, Spokane, El Paso, Boise, Oklahoma City, Colorado Springs, Bellingham (Washington), Des Moines, and Maui.
Air travel from Toronto recorded a 394% increase in 2022, taking back the top spot it held prior to the pandemic over Mexico City, with 192,627 visitors.
London, fifth in 2019, moved up to the second spot internationally with 175,627 visitors, up 1,843% from 9,038 in 2021 when it was more difficult to travel to the U.S. London even surpassed the 170,365 visitors it sent to Las Vegas in 2019.
Mexico City was third with 169,949, a 26% increase over the 134,853 in 2021 when it ranked first over Guadalajara, which fell from second to sixth as other cities increased travel.
Vancouver was fourth with 134,487, a 463% increase over 23,870 in 2021.
Calgary was fifth with 131,256, a 249% increase over 37,616 in 2021.
After Guadalajara in the rankings were Edmonton, Montreal, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Monterrey, Panama City, Zurich, Munich, and Seoul.
