Las Vegas visitation plunged 58.6% in March; occupancy hit 39.8%

Visitation to Las Vegas plunged 58.6 percent to 1.5 million people in March and hotel occupancy was off 51.7 percentage points to 39.8 percent as the coronavirus took its toll on the state’s biggest industry.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported Thursday that convention attendance fell 54.8 percent to 249,800. March normally is one of the city’s strongest months for conventions and trade shows.

Visitation numbers were dramatically affected by Gov. Steve Sisolak’s executive order March 17 directing the closure of nonessential businesses, including casinos and most hotels, to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus ravaging the United States.

There were few bright spots in Thursday’s report with nearly every indicator showing negative double-digit percentage drops.

Occupancy rates, which normally hover around 90 percent or higher, plummeted to 39.8 percent for the month, down 51.7 points from March 2019.

Revenue per available room, known in the industry as “RevPAR,” was off 53.3 percent to $57.22 and the average daily traffic on all major highways into Las Vegas was down 29.3 percent to 83,194 vehicles per day. That total, tabulated by the Nevada Department of Transportation, notes that local traffic is included in the estimate.

Earlier in the month, McCarran International Airport reported a 53.1 percent decline in passenger traffic to 2.064 million and the state Gaming Control Board said there was a 38.1 percent decline in gaming win in Clark County.

The only indicator in positive territory was the average daily room rate, which rose 7.3 percent to $143.77 in March.

Kevin Bagger, vice president of the LVCVA Research Center, explained that the average daily room rate reflects the amounts charged on days of operation while RevPAR takes the entire month into account.

“The (average daily rate) highlights that rates were actually fairly strong in the first part of the month” supported in part by the early March appearance of the ConExpo-Con/Agg construction equipment trade show that brought more than 100,000 people to Las Vegas, Bagger said in an email.

ConExpo was the last major convention in Las Vegas before the governor ordered nonessential businesses closed.

The March declines preview what is likely to be an even worse showing in the month of April, since resorts and attractions were closed for the entire month.

When the LVCVA reports those figures at the end of May, tourism leaders will get a picture of how deep the hole is from which it must climb out.

The March numbers give a snapshot of the first-quarter damage.

For the first three months of the year, visitation is down 18.3 percent compared with the first quarter of 2019.

Convention attendance is off 13 percent to 1.7 million for the quarter. The occupancy rate is calculated at 70.5 percent, down 17 percentage points from last year.

The average daily room rate is up 2.2 percent to $143.27 a night, but RevPAR is off 17.7 percent to $101.01.

Mesquite and Laughlin, two Southern Nevada markets also monitored by the LVCVA, also had steep declines.

Mesquite, about 90 miles north of Las Vegas on Interstate 15, reported visitor volume down 65.1 percent to 46,500. Occupancy fell 47.7 percentage points to 44.2 percent and the average daily room rate fell 11.1 percent to $67.66.

In Laughlin, about 90 miles south of Las Vegas and on the Colorado River near Arizona and California, visitation fell 55.5 percent to 77,200 and the occupancy rate was off 36.5 percentage points to 34.4 percent. The average daily room rate was down 7.1 percent to $43.03.

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