Las Vegas visitation in October was strong on the weekends, but dropped slightly overall, as midweek visitation and convention attendance fell along with room rates. Despite the slowdown, the city remains ahead of its 2023 pace in the number of visitors.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) reported that the visitor volume in October was 3.56 million, down 1.8% from October 2023 and 2.8 below 2019 levels before the pandemic.
For the first 10 months of the year, the 34.9 million visitors are 2.4% ahead of the 34.1 million a year ago.
The LVCVA released the numbers ahead of the Nevada Gaming Control Board October gaming-revenue report. The Thanksgiving holiday caused a delay in the release, typically during the last week of the month.
Hotel occupancy was 85.7% in October, down from 87.7% in October 2023. Weekend occupancy at 94.6% ran ahead of the 94.4% a year ago. Midweek occupancy was 82.6% rate, down from 85.4% a year ago. Convention attendance contributed to that. The 559,200 convention attendees in October were down 12.7% from 640,600.
The LVCVA cited the absence of TwitchCon that brought in about 30,000 attendees a year ago and was held in San Diego this year. Other conventions also rotated out of Las Vegas.
Strip occupancy was 87.8%, down from 89.6% a year ago. Downtown occupancy of 80.4% was down from 82.3% in October 2023.
For the year, hotel occupancy of 83.9% matches the 84% through the first 10 months of 2023. Strip occupancy at 86.7% for the year is up from 86.6%. Weekend occupancy of 91.2% is essentially even with last year’s 91.3%.
For the year, convention attendance at 5.16 million is down some 25,000 or 0.5% from a year ago when it was 5.19 million.
Las Vegas Strip revenue per room in October was $203.92, down 9.5% year-over-year, but 52.5% ahead of October 2019.
The Strip’s average daily room rate of $232.35 in October was down 7.6% from a record of $251.42 a year ago. The downtown room rate was $121.73, down 4% from $126.78 a year ago.
October average daily auto traffic was up 1.7% year-over-year on all major highways and up 1.8% on I-15 at the Nevada and California border. Total air passenger count at Harry Reid International Airport was down 3.5% year-over-year.
