Las Vegas visitors fell 3.7% in August, marking the 15th consecutive month that the number of tourists entering the region dropped.
Nearly 3.1 million tourists visited Las Vegas during the month, compared to 3.2 million in August 2008, according to figures released Friday by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau. Visitor numbers have declined 18 times in the past 20 months.
In the first eight months of 2009, 24.4 million visitors traveled to Las Vegas, down 5.8% from 25.9 million visitors in the first eight months of 2008.
Despite a range of promotional activities used by casino operators to facilitate visits over the summer, room occupancy was 81.4% in August, down 6.9% from a year ago.
“Share levels have quite returned to what they used to be. They’ve spurred a lot of people to come to the market with very aggressive price discounts,” Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Robert LaFleur told Bloomberg News. “They’re spending more on games because people show up and they don’t spend anything in their rooms.”
During the first eight months of 2009, room occupancy fell 6.2 percent compared to 2008. Average daily room occupancy fell 21.5 percent in August compared to a year ago, and overall room occupancy fell 25.4 percent in 2009.
Convention authority officials said in their monthly summary that 82.7% of the city’s total annual room occupancy continues to track higher than the national average of 56.6% reported by Smith Travel Research.
The convention business also took a hit in August. Attendance fell 58.9% as nearly 300 fewer conventions were held in Las Vegas during the month. Throughout the year, convention attendance fell 30.2%.
On Thursday, USA Today reported that Las Vegas is losing its convention business to cities considered to be lavish or cities that could raise concerns that businesses are recklessly spending travel expenses.
Convention authorities said more than 339,000 attendees were mainly due to economic climate and schedule differences. 바카라
Wells Fargo game analyst Dennis Farrell Jr. said the recession continues to affect consumers’ cautious spending attitudes when it comes to travel and entertainment.
“Our paper remains unchanged as we believe Las Vegas strip operators will still face challenging conditions,” Farrell told investors. “Economic weakness continues in California, Strip’s largest supply market.”
He said visits will continue to be hurt as tourists reduce the number of trips to Las Vegas and reduce spending habits. Farrell said new hotel rooms, such as 6,000 rooms opening in December, will continue to keep room rates low at MGM Mirage’s $8.5 billion City Center project.
The outskirts of Clark County also saw a drop in tourists.