San Diego has overtaken Las Vegas as the No. 1 Labor Day travel destination for Los Angeles-area residents, a survey released Monday shows.
It’s anybody’s guess as to how that development combined with national economic concerns and the aftermath of Hurricane Irene may affect visitation to Las Vegas during this weekend’s three-day holiday.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will likely issue its Labor Day forecast later this week. That may include some indication as to how would-be visitors feel about the economy and whether East Coast residents, many still dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane, are inclined and able to travel to Las Vegas.
The Automobile Club of Southern California, in the meantime, issued its annual Labor Day travel report showing some 2.32 million Southern Californians plan to take a vacation over the weekend – a 2.6 percent decline from 2010.
This decline appears to be driven by a 1.6 percent decline in air travel by Southland residents as well as declines in travel by bus, train, motor home and cruise ships.
Travel by car by Southern Californians is expected to increase slightly from 1.88 million to 1.89 million, the AAA affiliate said.
"We are seeing some travelers choosing to take a shorter vacation or opting to drive," Filomena Andre, the Southern California Auto Club's vice president for travel products and services, said in a statement.
The decline in travel by Southern California residents – the biggest block of tourists to Las Vegas at 27 percent in 2010 – is in line with a national decline in Labor Day travel expected this year.
AAA last week reported that because of the troubled economy, trips of 50 miles or more this weekend nationwide will likely fall 2.4 percent nationwide.
The Automobile Club of Southern California, in the meantime, said a survey of AAA travel agents there found the top travel destinations this year are, in order, San Diego, Las Vegas, California’s Central Coast, San Francisco and the Grand Canyon.
Last year, Las Vegas was No. 1 on that list followed by San Diego.
Las Vegas, of course, maintains its position as one of the nation’s top tourist destinations regardless of economic conditions.
For instance, U.S. News Media Group last week ranked Las Vegas No. 4 on its list of "Best Fall Getaways," behind Paris, San Francisco and Chicago.
"Las Vegas is America's playground every day of the year, but it is especially appealing in the fall. Temperatures are comfortable, airfare is affordable and rooms are downright cheap," U.S. News said in its report.
Visitation to Las Vegas in September 2010, including Labor Day, edged up 2 percent from 2009 to 3.12 million people. But because of an oversupply of hotel rooms in the city, hotel occupancy declined 1.1 percentage points to 82.1 percent.
Over Labor Day itself in 2010, the LVCVA estimated some 290,000 people visited Las Vegas, yielding hotel occupancy of 89 percent and a non-gaming economic impact of $160.7 million.