Las Vegas visitor volume climbs 2.8 percent in August

August was a slowish month for tourism in Las Vegas.

About 3.29 million tourists visited Sin city in August, a 2.8 percent increase over the same month in 2010 but down slightly from July, when 3.47 million visited.

However, the trend continues to look better for Las Vegas. The monthly Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority visitor count marks the 18th consecutive gain in the month-to-month of prior-year comparisons.

"Anytime you can actually say 18 straight months of increases, that's really good," said Scott Russell, senior research manager for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Russell said these numbers show that Las Vegas is well on its way to recovery.

Year-to-date, the city has seen 26.2 million visitors, a 4.7 percent increase over 2010's numbers.

Citywide room occupancy was up 2.1 percent from 82 percent in August 2010 to 84.1 percent this year. The average daily room rate rose 11.1 percent, to $97.11 a night from $87.40 in August 2010.

Russell said the rise is a result of Las Vegas' economy becoming healthier, and the city's hotels feeling more secure that visitors will choose them over other cities.

Las Vegas had 3.89 million occupied hotel room-nights in August -- 3.4 percent more than it did a year ago.

Convention attendance during August was 412,902, up 19.6 percent. The increase may have been helped by the Cosmoprof Beauty Show, which boasted an attendance of 23,000. The show ran in July last year, but was in August this year. The number of conventions and meetings held in Las Vegas in August was up 13.9 percent.

The average daily number of vehicles coming into Las Vegas showed a 2.4 percent decrease in August, from 110,302 vehicles a year ago to 107,602 this year. But the number of vehicles coming from Southern California along Interstate 15 was down 1.3 percent.

"A couple of things play here," Russell said, explaining that more people are traveling per-car to save on gasoline costs.

In other markets of Clark County during August, the number of Laughlin visitors fell 6.7 percent while Mesquite visitation was down 2.6 percent.

Contact reporter Laura Emerson at lemerson@lvbusinesspress.com or 702-380-4588.