Southern Nevada visitation up slightly in November, LVCVA says

Visitation to Southern Nevada was up less than 1 percent in November, but most other tourism indicators were down from a year ago, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported late Tuesday.

LVCVA officials said the declines were the result of tough comparisons to last year when the inaugural Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix produced record results in several categories.

Kevin Bagger, vice president of the LVCVA Research Center, said visitation in November was up 0.6 percent to 3.3 million, thanks to the F1 race and the Specialty Equipment Market Association automotive aftermarket trade show, one of the Las Vegas calendar’s largest annual events.

“November saw higher weekend occupancy versus last year (89.1 percent, up 0.4 points) but lower midweek occupancy (78.9 percent, down 2 points) as overall hotel occupancy for the month reached 81.4 percent, down 0.5 points,” Bagger said. “While down compared to the record-shattering levels tied to last year’s inaugural F1 race, monthly average daily room rates this year saw the second highest on record for the month of November, reaching $198.72, down 20.3 percent year over year.”

The declines mirrored downturns in the number of passengers seen at Harry Reid International Airport, 4.7 million, down 2.1 percent, and the average daily automobile traffic on Interstate 15 at the California-Nevada border, 44,916, down 2 percent.

There was a net decrease in midsize and small meetings in Las Vegas during the month resulting in a total 548,200 convention visitors, off 8.4 percent from a year ago.

Clark County’s gross gaming revenue has yet to be reported by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Despite the late-year decline – October was the second month in 2024 to have fewer visitors than the previous year — Las Vegas is still on track to have a higher total in 2024 than 2023. After 11 months, 38.3 million had visited the city, up 2.2 percent from a year ago.

Other indicators aren’t as robust, with the 5.7 million convention attendance off 1.3 percent, hotel room occupancy down 0.1 point to 83.7 percent and I-15 traffic at the California border down 0.6 percent.

Still, airport traffic is on track for a record 2024 with 53.6 million passengers so far, up 1.4 percent, and the average daily room rate up 0.7 percent to $193.12 a night.

Two other Southern Nevada cities were on opposite ends of November results.

Laughlin saw visitor volume increase 5.9 percent for the month to 94,000, with occupancy down 0.7 points to 42.4 percent and room rates down 0.5 percent to $55.08. For 11 months, Laughlin visitation is up 3.3 percent to 1.2 million, the occupancy rate is down 1.5 points to 50.3 percent, and the average room rate is down 0.9 percent to $60.82.

Mesquite’s visitor volume in November fell 10.8 percent to 66,000 with occupancy down 3.7 points to 72.9 percent and room rates up 9.3 percent to $89.65 a night.

For 11 months, Mesquite visitation is down 8.8 percent to 778,000, the occupancy rate is down 4.5 points to 74.5 percent, and the average room rate is up 10.2 percent to $83.19.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.