Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LV visitor numbers edge up 0.2 percent for year

Tourism officials note city still not `fully recovered'

Don't call it a comeback ... yet.

Though Las Vegas' 2002 visitor volume improved 0.2 percent compared with the previous year, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority representatives remain quick to caution the city's tourism industry is still nowhere close to the levels it enjoyed as recently as 2000.

Year-end numbers released before Tuesday's convention authority meeting said the city welcomed 35,071,504 visitors last year. That marked an improvement of nearly 54,200 visitors compared with 2001 but was more than 778,100 visitors below 2000's visitor total of 35.85 million.

"We have not fully recovered as a destination yet," Kevin Bagger, research director for the authority, said Tuesday.

Still, there is room for optimism. Though down compared with 2000 and 2001, Las Vegas' 2002 hotel occupancy rate of 84 percent was nearly 25 points above the national average and easily outclassed rates enjoyed in tourist destinations such as Los Angeles-Long Beach, Orlando, Fla., and San Francisco with occupancy rates of 65.3, 62.6 and 62.1, respectively.

Las Vegas motels suffered the most last year with occupancy rates down 3.6 percent. Bagger attributed that to heavy discounting and an increase in the number of available rooms at major resorts.

Stagnancy in room inventories also affected last year's visitor volume. Thanks to closures at properties like Vacation Village and the conversion of many hotel rooms into time share properties, Bagger said the city last year added a net total of 177 hotel rooms last year, its smallest increase in total room inventory since 1992.

Of particular concern to local gaming companies was the decrease in the number of trips per year made by Southern California residents. That number fell from three to 2.1 over the last 12 months and could serve as an indicator of how new Indian gaming resorts in California could affect Las Vegas.

Last year's numbers also revealed visitors' per-trip spending in categories such as food and beverage, shopping and lodging were down compared with 2001. In addition, travelers are also waiting longer to book stays in Las Vegas, Bagger said.

Last year, more than 37 percent of visitors made room reservations less than two weeks before they traveled.