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Vegas Visitor Count Seesaws

LAS VEGAS -- The tourism industry's seesaw performance continued in October with the visitor head count up 4.2 percent compared with last year, but down 4 percent compared with pre-Sept. 11 October numbers.

"Given the dip in travel nationwide last year, we expected increased numbers in 2001, but they have not recovered to 2000 levels yet," Las Vegas Visitor Convention and Visitors Authority research director Kevin Bagger said.

Just more than 3 million visitors came to Las Vegas in October 2002, up from 2.9 million in 2001, but down from 3.1 million in 2000, before the terrorist attacks on the United States.

Laughlin was hit particularly hard hit, with 339,022 visitors in October 2002, down 11.5 percent to compared with 2001. Mesquite visitor volume was 137,962, down less than 1 percent compared with October 2001.

"Laughlin occupancy was down, but the gaming numbers were up. Gaming numbers traditionally are move volatile, but we're keeping tabs to see if it was an anomaly for occupancy to be that far down," Bagger said.

Mesquite visitor numbers have been hit by lower room availability caused by the conversion of some rooms at the Casa Blanca to extended stay units.

Occupancy rates for Las Vegas in October were up across the board compared with 2001.

Overall, Las Vegas occupancy rates increased 2.8 percentage points to 85 percent in 2001, but they decreased 6.3 points from 2000. Midweek occupancy rates posted the strongest gains in 2001, as did hotel properties compared with motels.

Compared with pre-Sept. 11 rates in 2000, motel occupancy rates were down 12.1 percentage points in October.

"Traditionally, motels benefit from overflow so when there is availability in the hotels or pricing points consumers want, the motels suffer accordingly," Bagger said.

Many properties wrestled with midweek occupancy rates, down 8.1 points overall.

Attendance at conventions in Las Vegas this past October 2002 was 374,727, up 2.5 percent compared with a year earlier.

"We feel good about that," Bagger said, "especially since the convention and business sector travel nationwide have been soft. Our convention and business travel are relatively healthy compared with other destinations, although the results of a single month alone may not tell you that much."

Attendance at Las Vegas conventions also increased year-to-date to 4,444,088, up 2.6 percent from the first 10 months of 2001.

Airport arrivals were another positive sign, hitting 3.1 million in October, up 12 percent compared with October 2001, although they remain 4 percent below October 2000 levels, Bagger said.

Analysts remain cautious about the end of 2002 and 2003.

"We expect strong year-over-year visitation in November, as visitation declined 8.6 percent in November 2001," Bear, Stearns & Co. analyst Jason Ader said. "Overall, however, we are somewhat cautious on our outlook for the fourth quarter, given weakness in our weekly room rate surveys for the month, disruptions in Las Vegas air service and a midweek New Year's."

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