Tourism inches up while average daily room rate highest since 2007

Visitation to Las Vegas inched up slightly in January while the average daily room rate soared to its highest level since September 2007, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported Friday.

Monthly visitation hit 3.4 million, just 0.1 percent ahead of January 2014.

But the month’s average daily room rate of $136.02, up 15.1 percent from a year ago, was at its highest level since the Great Recession.

Strip rates were up 13.1 percent to $145.80 while downtown rates climbed 2.8 percent to $64.62.

Bolstered by high attendance at the International Consumer Electronics Show and a shift in dates on two other shows, convention attendance was up 8 percent to 682,330.

The National Association of Home Builders and the National Kitchen and Bath trade shows were on February’s calendar last year, but January’s this year, accounting for a portion of the convention attendance increase.

The number of Las Vegas trade shows and conventions was up 8.4 percent from the previous year to 1,678.

Occupancy rates trailed from last year in every category except downtown Las Vegas.

Citywide occupancy was off 1.8 percentage points to 81.7 percent. Strip occupancy was down 2.2 points to 83.7 percent, but downtown occupancy was up 4.2 points to 77.6 percent.

Every other occupancy category was down, including weekends (1.6 points to 85.9 percent), midweek (2.4 points to 79.3 percent), hotels (1.7 points to 84.4 percent) and motels (4.4 points to 56.1 percent).

While the Clark County Aviation Department reported a slight increase in passenger traffic at McCarran International Airport, auto traffic was also up in January.

Auto traffic on all major highways was estimated at 92,188 vehicles a day, up 2.7 percent from the previous January. Traffic at the California-Nevada border on Interstate 15 was up 2.1 percent to 37,691 vehicles a day.

The LVCVA also monitors tourism statistics for Mesquite and Laughlin.

Both cities showed visitation increases with Mesquite up 7.8 percent to 98,123 people over January 2014, and Laughlin up 0.8 percent to 148,024.

The average daily room rate was up 14.5 percent to $58.11 in Mesquite and up 3.2 percent to $40.75 in Laughlin.

Occupancy rates were up 3.2 percentage points to 70.4 percent in Mesquite and up 7.1 points to 56.5 percent in Laughlin.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.