Tourists to fire up Las Vegas for July 4 holiday

A solid rush of tourists will be in Las Vegas for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, but not all of them will be celebrating Independence Day.

According to data from Ash Kapur, senior director of global strategic accounts and gaming for Expedia Inc., the online travel agency's international bookings are up 30 percent this weekend over the same period last year.

"We always see international bookings do well in summers," Kapur said.

Expedia saw a marginal decline in domestic bookings, though Kapur said bookings overall increased slightly over last year.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is expecting 292,000 visitors over the weekend, up 3.2 percent over last year. Those tourists are expected to generate about $179 million in nongaming revenue, a 3.4 percent jump from the July Fourth 2010 holiday weekend.

At the Tropicana, the Fourth of July isn't the only holiday being celebrated this weekend. The resort is hosting a poker tournament today to honor Canada Day. According to the LVCVA, 44 percent of the city's international tourism comes from Canada.

Arik Knowles, Tropicana's vice president of hotel operations, said the hotel's rooms are expected to sell out both Saturday and Sunday. For the weekend overall, Knowles said occupancy is about 12 percent higher than the same weekend last year.

Knowles said the resort normally sees a steady influx of visitors from north of the border because of its Canadian parent company, Onex Corp., and its strategic partnerships with Canadian airline carriers. He attributed this year's increase in visitors to the Tropicana's marketing blitz, which recently kicked into high gear.

The LVCVA expects hotel occupancy levels to hover around 92 percent this weekend, up 2.6 percent from last year.

Both MGM Resorts International and Station Casinos expect Saturday to be the strongest day of the weekend.

"It's really good for the hotels when the holiday falls on a Friday or Monday," Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson said.

MGM Resorts spokeswoman Yvette Monet said the company anticipates Saturday sellouts at many of its resorts. M Resort's Rina Foster also reported high occupancy levels at the south Strip hotel. M is close to full for the weekend, she said.

"We saw longer window advance bookings for the holiday this year, which indicates that more people are coming from farther away than they did," Monet said. "This is something that is a very positive sign."

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@ lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5273.