Las Vegas Airport Travel Plummets, Hotel-Casino Occupancy Rates Low?
Posted on: January 29, 2021, 03:19h.
Last updated on: January 31, 2021, 07:59h.
Larry Henry
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Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.
The number of travelers using the Las Vegas airport continued to decline in December, down more than 60 percent from the same month a year earlier. This coronavirus-related slump in tourism has contributed to low hotel-casino occupancy rates.
Last month, McCarran International Airport recorded nearly 1.7 million arriving and departing passengers. This is 60.7 percent below the 4.2 million travelers who used the airport in December 2019, according to the latest figures from the Clark County Department of Aviation.
Overall in 2020, the number of passengers fell by 56.9 percent, compared to 2019. Last year, about 22 million travelers used the airport. In 2019, the passenger total was over 51 million. The city has lost more than 29 million air travelers so far during the pandemic.
The airport is just east of the Las Vegas Strip, near the Tropicana Las Vegas and other hotel-casinos at the southern end of the resort corridor.
In January and February, airport travel at McCarran had been on a record-setting pace, according to an aviation department news release.?
The number of travelers began to tumble after the first coronavirus cases surfaced in March. That month, Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) ordered casinos and other businesses statewide to close. In April, the airport had its lowest number of travelers, only 152,716 for the month.
After a 78-day shutdown, the governor permitted casinos to reopen June 4. Some opened right away. Others began operating again over time.
Low Visitor Volume
Because of Las Vegas’ remote desert location, airport travel is seen as important in getting large numbers of visitors to the city. The nearest big metropolitan area, Los Angeles, is at least four hours away by car. Phoenix is about five hours away.
Some tourism officials have expressed hope that a high-speed train from Southern California to Las Vegas will help in boosting tourism numbers. However, construction on a train is not expected to begin until at least the spring.
The 19.03 million people who visited Las Vegas in 2020 was off by 55.2 percent from the previous year, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. It also was the lowest number since 1989. That is the year the Mirage Las Vegas was built on the west side of the Strip, sparking a boom in megaresort construction.
Hope on the Horizon
Hotel occupancy rates in December also were low. The weekend rate was 45.4 percent. During the middle of the week, the occupancy rate dropped to 25 percent, the newspaper reported.?
With no conventions or major events in Las Vegas, some casino executives expect midweek occupancy rates to remain soft.
Several hotel-casinos have shut down their entire operations, including the gaming floors and hotel towers, during the middle of the week. Others are closing their hotel towers only during the midweek period. These closures are considered temporary, depending on when visitor volume turns around.
Lower room rates reflect an effort to attract visitors. The average room rate in December was $100.09, or 9.3 percent less than the same month in 2019, the newspaper reported.?
Officials are hopeful that COVID-19 vaccines and the public’s desire to travel will help revitalize the Las Vegas tourism economy.
Rosemary A. Vassiliadis, the aviation department’s director, said she has confidence vaccines “will be a stimulus to air travel.”
“We know that there is pent-up demand for this destination, and the airport will be at the forefront of the Las Vegas recovery effort,” she said in the news release.
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( VEGAS Will RISE Again No WORRIES!! I Agree 100 percent get Rid of the Ridiculous Over-priced Resort Fees and increase "Free Play" payouts!! Ten dollar Free plays is Definitely not going to Bring back foot traffic into VEGAS Strip Casino Floors! Vegas Resorts have to "Give Back" to "Get More" that's Business 101 Folks!! Viva Las VEGAS!!!)
As soon as I can come to Las Vegas without a mask on I will return. I'm not going on vacation to worry about coronavirus.
tRump and his lack of urgency and calling this covid a hoax caused vegas and his political life to die. RIO vegas, you used to be a fun place to visit but now it's for the homeless to occupy the large casinos,thanks to tRump economics. Biden will get the vaccine out but the gambling addict Vegas depends on has gone forcefully to rehab and has woken up that Vegas was just stealing their money unfsirly
Well if they implement a requirement to get negative covid test for domestic travel then you can expect air travel to drop much much lower.
As long as vegas limits dining, nightlife, and hotels close midweek with $30 a night room rates, expect to see the strip full of ghetto people spending their welfare and stimulus and causing trouble on the strip.
Not a surprise numbers down. Borders between Canada and US closed, thankfully, and mandatory covid tests and 2 week quarantine mandatory required for anyone coming to Canada. Many European countries making air travel difficult. Now casinos relying on its US citizens to visit. It's going to be quite awhile before visitors return.
We had an odd situation at Paris Las Vegas, we were upgraded to a one bedroom suite for our three night stay, then I check my credit card and they say I was charged an additional $500.00, Paris claims it was not a “free” upgrade, I never signed anywhere to pay an extra $500.00, we disputed the charged with Visa and won, the credit card company gave us all our money back.
Rooms are $39 a night at Flamingo but you have to add $40 a night in resort fees plus 13% tax. not such a great deal after all those fees.
Pam January 30, 2021 In comment to Michael Ditomassi, the hotels are not the ones who set the resorts fees and they do not get the money from the resort fees. this is entirely false, the hotel groups get 100% of the resort fee, that is why they have the resort fee, so the 3rd party booking companies don't collect their commission % on the full amount, only on the room rate.
@jesse james Grow up stop being a poor sport you lost get someone better next time. I liked him until he said 'im going to make Mexico pay for the wall' anyone who belived that and fallowed him, not realizing that waz a lie, nerds to pay a bit more attention. Anybody in their right mind would have known That would not have ever Been possible And that was a complete lie
PAM- Hotels do set the resort fee and they do keep the money. Its a made up fee for them to make money.
If people are not traveling by air to LV. Why do these leaders think they will ride a train? Total waste of money.
Until the shows reopen, it's going to be a ghost town. Gambling and small bars are not a draw. If all I wanted to do was gamble I can drive to a casino an hour away.
I have a weekend trip planned there for Valentines day. Bringing my kids and meeting up with my older daughter. To go hiking. If its warm enough we would like to kayak. Not everyone gambles. And I have a motel reserved off the strip, cheaper than what you are listing. Last I have never been there. And I won't be going back if all I hear is your whining about ppl not traveling there. We flying in on a direct flight by Allegiant. Reading your depressing article makes me want to cancel my trip. What a downer.
Looking forward to Vegas bouncing back!