Las Vegas tourism flat for second month in a row

Las Vegas tourism is flat. Through September, tourism stayed relatively unchanged at 30 million visitors year-to-date compared to 30.06 million who visited during the same time period in 2012.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported September visitation was down 1.6 percent, to 3.3 million visitors, compared to 3.35 million in September 2012.

The authority cited one less weekend day versus last September for the dip.

Citywide occupancy also is flat at 85.4 percent year-to-date compared to 85.3 percent in 2012.

Hotel occupancy is down to 88.3 percent from 2012’s 88.5 percent. Motel occupancy was 59.2 percent, compared with last year’s 56.8 percent.

Total weekend occupancy year-over-year was up to 91.7 percent compared with 2012’s 91.4 percent; weekday stays were mostly flat at 82.5 percent from last year’s 82.6 percent through September.

Strip occupancy is almost unchanged year-to-date at 88 percent compared to 2012’s 88.2 percent, while downtown’s year-over-year occupancy is down slightly from 2012’s 76.7 percent to 75 percent through September.

Room prices are rising, with September’s average daily room rate of $113.75 up from September 2012’s $112.52. Year-to-date, the average daily room rate is $111.05, up from last year’s $107.94. On the Strip, the average daily rate rose 1.5 percent month-over-month to $123.72 from September 2012’s $121.90. Year-over-year Strip rates are up 2.9 percent to $119.60 from $116.28 in 2012.

Downtown, average daily rates were up in September to $72.88 from $67.84 last year.

Year-to-date, the rate is up 7.3 percent to $67.81 from $63.19 in 2012.

Convention attendance in September totaled 368,593, up 1.1 percent from 364,648 in 2012. The number of conventions and meetings was up 6.1 percent to 1,999 events from 1,884 in September 2012. Year-over-year, convention attendance is up 3 percent to 4 million from 2012’s 3.88 million. The number of events is up, 6.4 percent, to 16,568 from 15,576.

The average daily number of vehicles coming into Las Vegas was 97,423 in September, up from 96,669 a year ago. The number coming from Southern California on Interstate 15 fell 1.8 percent.

The number of Laughlin visitors was down 2.8 percent in September, while Mesquite visitation was up 5.9 percent in month-over-month comparisons.

Year-to-date, Laughlin’s visitor count was down 1.9 percent, to 1.6 million from 2012’s 1.63 million total. Mesquite’s was down 1.2 percent, to 764,052 from 773,622 in 2012.

Contact reporter Laura Carroll at lcarroll@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @lscvegas on Twitter.