According to the latest report by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, visitor numbers reached 1.7 million for September in Las Vegas. Although the results mark an increase when compared to August, a year-on-year comparison marks more than 50% decrease in visitor volume.
Visitors in Las Vegas Increase in September
Earlier this week, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) revealed its latest data about visitor volume and hotel occupancy. According to the data, 1,704,300 million people visited Las Vegas in September. Although this marks a 10.9% increase when compared to August, the number is still far beyond the results from September 2019. Last year in September, there were 3,475,900, which marks a 51% decrease in visitor volume.
“Gradual increases continued in September as the destination hosted approx. 1.7M visitors, just under half of last year’s estimated tally but up 10.9% from last month.”
reads the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Executive Summary
The LVCVA report also outlined there were approximately 133,079 available rooms in Las Vegas in September this year. This marked a 4.2% increase when compared to August. However, the number is still relatively low when compared to September 2019, when there were approximately 149,050 available hotel rooms.
Hotel Room Occupancy Improves in September
The hotel room occupancy in September reached 46.8%, which marked 4.1% increases when compared to August this year. However, year-on-year comparison outlines a staggering decline of 41.5% percent in occupancy for September since last year the hotel room occupancy reached 88.3%.
Comparing the results August-September in terms of weekend occupancy we observe an increase of 3%. In September, the weekend occupancy reached 66.1%, while in August it halted at 63.1%. Furthermore, a similar increase is observed in the midweek hotel room occupancy that reached 38.5%, outlining a 4.1% increase when compared to August.
Focusing on Strip hotel room occupancy, in September it reached 46.4%. On the other hand, downtown occupancy hit 44.3%. Although both numbers mark an approximate increase of 4%, when we compare the result to September 2019, we observe a 43.4% decrease in Strip hotel room occupancy and a 39.3% decrease in Downtown occupancy.
The Gambling Capital of the World Is on Its Way to Recovery
Besides the visitor volume and hotel room occupancy, the LVCVA report outlined the average daily rate room rate (ADR) and the revenue per available room (RevPAR). Comparing the results to August, we see that in September, Strip ADR reached $117.38 which marked a 7.9% increase. On the other hand, Downtown ADR reached $64.80 in September, which when compared to August marked a 10% increase.
Strip RevPAR in September reached $54.46 which marked an 18.9% increase when compared to August this year. Furthermore, Downtown RevPAR reached $28.71 in September, which when compared to August marked a 21.2% increase.
The number of visitors in Las Vegas is gradually increasing which means that the gambling capital of the world is on its way to recovery. In September, the reopening of additional resorts as well as more amenities undoubtedly helped the increase of visitors. With that in mind, the lack of conventions is one of the factors that is continuously negatively impacting the visitor number.