Las Vegas visitor count hurt by convention change

The Las Vegas visitor tally was hurt by a major convention schedule change in February.

According to the monthly statistics from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the visitor count for February grew 1 percent from a year ago to nearly 2.9 million. It had surged 8.6 percent in January, the best performance in several years.

The biggest influence in the swing came from a shift in the World Market Center's winter market and the World of Concrete construction trade show. The annual events, which have a combined attendance of about 100,000, both moved to January after being staged in February last year. Convention attendance dropped 11.5 percent in February after jumping 36.9 percent the previous month.

Many of the other indicators followed a similar pattern. Room nights sold rose 1.6 percent in February after rising 12 percent in January, while the room rate changes were 1.3 percent and 7.5 percent respectively. Conventiongoers typically comprise less than 20 percent of the visitor count, but numerous surveys show they spend more while they are here and pay higher room rates than tourists.

In general, said the authority's senior director of marketing Kevin Bagger, the trend in recent months of rising traffic but cautious spending continued.

Hudson Securities analyst Robert LaFleur viewed the data as "nothing to write home about," with the visitor gains not enough to cover the 2,000 new rooms added by The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. "Vegas is still recovering in fits and starts," he wrote in a research report. "(It's) still too early to get excited."

But Bagger noted that hotel occupancy rose nearly a full point to 80.6 percent in February despite the larger supply. "That, to me, is a positive," he said.

In February, the traffic count from all highways went down 2.1 percent as gasoline prices climbed, but travel was up 1.4 percent at the state line at Primm.

The pump price in the Los Angeles area, the largest market for drive-in visitors to Las Vegas, averaged $4.14 a gallon on Friday, according to the AAA survey. That is a 22 cent rise from the previous month and $1.04 from one year ago.

Air fares have also risen several times this year. In its March report, Las Vegas-based Allegiant Travel said that it flew only 2.1 percent more seat miles compared to last year but boosted revenue more than 18 percent.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at
toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.