Tourist traffic to Las Vegas, Southern Nevada plunged in March

Visitation to Southern Nevada in March plunged 7.8 percent from a year ago, one of the steepest year-over-year drops since the coronavirus pandemic, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported Tuesday.

The LVCVA reported 3.4 million visitors for the month, and executives said it’s unclear whether evolving federal government policies rippling through international and domestic markets are responsible for the decline.

Kevin Bagger, director of the LVCVA Research Center, said the back-to-back declines in February and March were the worst since the pandemic. The 11.9 percent drop in February was attributed to the tough comparison against February 2024 when Las Vegas hosted Super Bowl 58.

Bagger said there were some bright spots in March’s visitation report. Convention attendance was up 10.2 percent to 533,900 and the average daily room rate increased by 3.1 percent to $183.86 a night.

While hotel occupancy fell 2.4 percentage points to 82.9 percent and passenger traffic at Harry Reid International Airport slumped by 3.9 percent, traffic on major highways into Las Vegas increased 1.8 percent to 135,402 vehicles per day, according to the Nevada Department of Transportation. All highway traffic increased despite a decline in traffic counts on Interstate 15 at the California-Nevada border.

“Rotation cycles helped convention attendance in March as the destination hosted roughly 534,000 attendees for the month,” Bagger said. “It reflected, in part, the calendar impact of the in-rotation of the Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society conference with 48,000 attendees, which was held elsewhere last year.”

Critics have voiced concern about whether President Donald Trump’s tariff policies combined with countermeasures from other countries and remarks the president has made about annexing Canada have led to travel decisions by potential foreign visitors. Jitters about the economy may also be affecting domestic travel.

LVCVA officials say there’s no way to accurately determine whether there’s a focused effort by Canadians to travel less to the United States and Las Vegas.

However, passenger counts on Canadian air carriers to Reid International reported last week were down in March. Among the reported declines were a 14.5 percent dip from Canadian discounter WestJet, a 62.2 percent decrease on discounter Flair and a 5.9 percent decline on Air Canada.

Another Canadian carrier, Porter Airlines, was up 233.8 percent from a year ago when it was new to the market.

For the first quarter of 2025, the LVCVA said visitor volume was down 6.9 percent to 9.7 million, convention attendance was off 1.6 percent to 1.8 million, the average daily room rate was down 8.1 percent to $188.52 a night and hotel occupancy was down 0.9 percentage points to 81.8 percent.

Gaming numbers down

Meanwhile, Nevada casinos struggled to keep up with last year’s record gaming win pace in March, although there were bright spots for some Southern Nevada submarkets, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said Tuesday.

The board reported $1.28 billion was won by the state’s 442 licensed casinos, a 1.1 percent decline from March 2024. State figures included $1.1 billion in Clark County, down 1.8 percent from a year earlier, and $681.7 million for the Strip, down 4.8 percent from March 2024.

But two markets showed double-digit percentage increases for the month — downtown Las Vegas, up 11.6 percent to $85 million, and Boulder Strip, up 10.2 percent to $86.3 million.

Greater slot machine play resulted in higher numbers. Downtown’s 22 licensed casinos saw slot win increase up 20.3 percent to $60.2 million with coin-in increasing 6.8 percent. Numbers increased despite a greater win percentage in March 2024 with hold percentage at 6.8 percent compared with 7.6 percent in 2024. Table game win was down 5 percent to $24.8 million.

On the Boulder Strip, slot play was up 11.5 percent with coin-in up 2.4 percent at the 41 licensed properties. Slot hold percentage was 6.4 percent compared with 5.8 percent last year. Table game win and volume was flat compared with last year.

Gaming industry analyst Carlo Santarelli, in a report to investors, said March Strip results were influenced by an unfavorable calendar, which included an extra Monday this year instead of an extra Friday in 2024 and a shortfall in baccarat revenue. Slot handle grew 1 percent year over year, while table volumes, excluding baccarat, were up 2.9 percent, after a tough February.

One other statewide market, Reno, also had a double-digit percentage increase, 10.9 percent to $57.7 million.

One other normally robust Southern Nevada submarket, outlying Clark County, which includes the 15-month-old Durango property, was down 2.4 percent to $162.9 million.

$1 billion record intact

March marked the 49th straight month that gaming win exceeded $1 billion.

Strip revenue fell despite a variety of sports and entertainment special events in town.

Residency performances during the month included the Eagles at Sphere, Garth Brooks at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Maroon 5 at Park MGM and Carrie Underwood at Resorts World Las Vegas. Kevin Hart performed one night at Resorts World.

Combat sports dotted the Strip during the month with UFC 313 featuring Alex Pereira versus Magomed Ankalaev at T-Mobile Arena, a boxing card at Michelob Ultra Arena with Sebastian Fundora against Chordale Booker and a PBC Boxing event at Mandalay Bay.

The National Rugby League kicked off at Allegiant Stadium, NASCAR races returned to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and major league baseball came to Las Vegas Ballpark with the annual Big League Weekend games featuring the Athletics and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.