Passengers wait to board a Southwest Airlines plane at McCarran International Airport. Summer travelers pushed the July passenger total at McCarran to nearly 4.1 million, up 2.4 percent from a year ago. Photo by John Gurzinski/Review-Journal File Photo

Southwest Airlines carried about 1.4 million passengers in and out of McCarran International Airport during July, an 8 percent increase from the same month a year ago for the busiest carrier in Las Vegas. For the year, Southwest's passenger count is up 13 percent to 9.1 million.

Summer travelers pushed the monthly total at McCarran to nearly 4.1 million, up 2.4 percent from a year ago. The total for the year is 26.6 million, up 3.4 percent.

The slight gain in McCarran passenger activity is not enough to stop a slide in the Clark County Tourism Index compiled by the Center for Business and Economic Research at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The index posted its largest decline of the year, falling to 150.11 in June from 165.36 in May.

Keith Schwer, executive director of the research center, pointed to a 5 percent decline in gross gaming revenue in June and lower hotel occupancy rates. Visitor volume has remained relatively flat for the year at 22.7 million through July, coming off last year's record of 38.6 million visitors.

Gasoline prices are receding temporarily and economic numbers generally show a soft-landing scenario, Schwer said. Housing is down in Las Vegas, but not falling off the edge of the world, he said.

Part of the increase in air traffic through Las Vegas can be attributed to population growth in the community, but the bulk of it is still driven by tourism, Schwer said.

"When prices go up, people will substitute. Sometimes when air fares went up, which would be a drag on travel, people substitute long-distance travel for something more affordable," he said. "These planes are running full."

Travelers are seeing Las Vegas as more of a summer destination, booking air and hotel packages at some of the higher-end hotels such as Bellagio, The Mirage and Wynn Las Vegas, said Belinda Edwards, manager of Frosch Travel in Las Vegas.

"The weather has changed so much," she said. "People were leaving Vegas to go somewhere to be cooler, but they're coming to Vegas now. People went to New York in the summer and said they were dying from the heat."

Edwards said it's important for travelers to know they'll need a passport to fly to Canada and Mexico next year.

Rounding out the top five airlines at McCarran in July were America West at 753,289 passengers, up 2 percent; United at 301,000, up 9.5 percent; Delta at 209,953, down 15.8 percent; and American at 195,508, down 13.4 percent.

Scheduled flights through Terminal 1 at McCarran carried 3.7 million passengers, a 5.3 percent increase from the same month the previous year. Charter flight passengers were down 11.6 percent to 38,182 and commuter traffic was down 37.98 percent to 100,708 in July.

Terminal 2, or the international terminal, had 153,562 passengers on scheduled flights, a 7 percent increase, and 21,436 charter passengers, down 63.8 percent.