Las Vegas records 12th straight month of visitor increases

Glenn Pinkerton | Las Vegas News Bureau

The Las Vegas Strip on March 26, 2011.

VEGAS INC Coverage

February brought Las Vegas its 12th consecutive month of increases in visitation, according to numbers released today.

The number of visitors in February increased by 1 percent from about 2.85 million visitors in February 2010 to more than 2.88 million this past February, according to a monthly report from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Citywide hotel occupancy increased by 0.9 percentage points to about 80.6 percent from 79.7 in February of last year. The average daily room rate rose 1.3 percent during the year-over-year period, from $97.21 to $98.49, the LVCVA said.

Convention attendance fell 11.5 percent in February due to several large conventions being held in January instead of February this year. Those conventions included the World of Concrete and Winter Market, which each had about 50,000 attendees.

Gaming revenue fell 7 percent from $827.8 million in February 2010 to $769.5 million this past February. Gaming revenue on the Strip fell 9.6 percent during the year-over-year period. That compares to a revenue increase of 32.9 percent in January, mainly due to strong baccarat wins, the LVCVA noted.

Passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport was down 2.1 percent, but vehicle traffic on Interstate 15 at the Nevada/California line was up 1.4 percent in February.

Visitor volume to Laughlin fell 3 percent from February 2010 to February 2011, while the number of visitors fell 0.4 percent in Mesquite.

Real Estate

Share