Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LV tourist count tops 3 million in September

Year-to-date local visitor volume is nearly 28.3 million

Gamblers swarm toward the tables at The Orleans on Labor Day. Helped by the Labor Day weekend, Las Vegas attracted 3.12 million travelers in September, tourism statistics show. Photo by JANE KALINOWSKY/REVIEW-JOURNAL

For the eighth time in nine tries this year, Las Vegas' hotels, casinos, restaurants and conventions in September combined to lure more than 3 million visitors to town in a single month.

And while a typical autumn travel slowdown pushed local visitor volume down slightly for the second consecutive month, September's 3.12 million traveler tally was still 9.7 percent better than the same period a year ago, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said Monday.

Only April, which enjoyed a 10.5 percent gain vs. 2003, showed a stronger month-over-month improvement this year, the authority said.

Year-to-date, Las Vegas' visitor volume was nearly 28.3 million, or 5.5 percent better than the first nine months of 2003. More significantly, that total was 4.4 percent better than the first nine months of 2000, the city's full-year record holder with 35.85 million visitors.

Barring a major interruption, a new visitor record will likely be set sometime in mid-December.

This September benefited from several calendar quirks that worked against month-over-month comparisons just one month prior, most notably that this year's Labor Day holiday and Men's Apparel Guild in California MAGIC Marketplace trade show were entirely within the ninth month.

In 2003, MAGIC took place in late August, while Labor Day weekend straddled that month and September. Those events' absence from this year's August calendar caused its monthly visitor count to dip by 1.1 percent vs. 2003, the only period this year that declined vs. 2003.

MAGIC's September stop fueled a 99.1 percent increase in local convention traffic, which jumped from 285,500 last year to 568,325 in September 2004. Citywide occupancy levels also improved by 8 percentage points to 90.9 percent.

Hotel and motel guests paid an average daily rate of $90.48 in September, up 12.2 percent from last year's $80.66 monthly average. The citywide average through the year's first nine months reached $89.19, an 8.5 percent improvement from 2003.

Data supplied by Vegas.com, a locally based online travel reservation service, showed visitors who used its Web site in September weren't necessarily looking for bargains. Four- and five-star rooms were booked three times more often than in September 2003, spokeswoman Pamela Johnston said. Overall room rates booked on Vegas.com were up 40 percent from the same month a year ago, she added.

Inquiries to Vegas.com's posted sports betting pagers were also busier than in September 2003, a development Johnston said stemmed from increased interest in this season's Major League Baseball playoffs. Vegas.com provides odds on sporting events but does not accept wagers.

September's monthly visitor total was nearly 45,700 below August's count, which in turn was 33,600 visitors below July's 3.2 million. John Piet, senior research analyst for the convention authority, said the downward trend is typical for the time of year as summer leisure travel winds down before the fall convention season picks up steam in October.

Mesquite's visitor volume surged during the month. Aided by some new and continuing gaming promotions, the Virgin River resort hosted 141,689 September visitors, up 11 percent from a year ago. Through the first nine months of 2004, its 1.32 million visitors increased 1.4 percent from 2003.

"We held the Oasis Open, a seven-day poker tournament, for the first time this year," said Marty Rapson, marketing director for four Mesquite resorts owned by the Black brothers. "Outside of that, it just seems that there's been more interest in Mesquite lately."

Returns weren't as good from Laughlin, whose September visitor tally of 306,199 was nearly 22,500 visitors, or 6.8 percent, less than a year ago. Through the year's first nine months, Laughlin's nearly 3.16 million visitor count was down 2.9 percent compared with 2003.