A healthy jump in convention traffic boosted visitation in November and gave hope that Las Vegas can still break the elusive barrier of 40 million tourists for 2012.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said today that 3.1 million people visited Southern Nevada in November, bringing the 11-month total to 36.7 million. But December totals are traditionally weak, despite the annual arrival of the National Finals Rodeo.
The LVCVA said visitor volume inched up by 2.5 percent for the month, thanks to a 16.7 percent increase in the number of conventioneers attending shows in the city.
Officials said the 25,900-delegate Society of Manufacturing Engineers show, last here in 2008, and the 16,000-delegate Diving Equipment and Marketing Association show, which was last in Southern Nevada in 2010, boosted convention attendance to 438,330 for the month.
The average daily room rate hit $104 for the month, up 0.6 percent, and occupancy was up 1.4 percentage points to 79.7 percent.