Paul Szydelko
Most visitation and other tourism indicators in 2024 barely met or exceeded 2023 totals, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported, perhaps lending insight into what to expect the rest of this year.
Visitor volume, average daily room rates and occupancy rates all crept upward from the previous year, while convention attendance was about the same.
Las Vegas welcomed about 41.7 million visitors in 2024, up 2.1% from 2023's 40.8 million visitors, according to Kevin Bagger, vice president of the LVCVA Research Center. Convention attendance, about 6 million, matched 2023's tally.
The 2024 ADR in 2024 was $193.16, 1% higher than in 2023. Hotel occupancy rates for the year was 83.6%, just 0.1 percentage points higher than the 2023 average.
With the destruction of the Tropicana to accommodate a proposed baseball park and the closure of the Mirage to rebrand to Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas, hotel room inventory fell 2.6%, to 150,612 units.
Gaming numbers
Nevada's overall annual casino revenue set a record for the fourth year in a row with $15.6 billion, but Strip resorts reported a 1% dip, to $8.8 billion, in 2024. Downtown Las Vegas, Reno and Clark County's unincorporated areas helped propel the state to new heights, according to numbers released by the Gaming Control Board.
A full year of operations from Fontainebleau Las Vegas and Durango Casino Resort, both of which opened in December 2023, helped offset the closures of the Tropicana (April) and the Mirage (July), said Michael Lawton, the control board's senior economic analyst.
Consumer demand remained strong in 2024 despite inflation and rising interest rates, he said.
"Nevada continued to benefit from consumer's desire for leisure travel domestically and internationally," Lawton said. "Furthermore, Nevada's healthy local economy is experiencing record employment levels and population growth that includes higher-income earners."
Airport record
Harry Reid Airport set an annual record for passenger numbers, welcoming 58.4 million travelers in 2024, a 1.4% increase over the previous year's record of 57.6 million.
Eight of the 12 months in 2024 set records, and October 2024 was the second-busiest month ever at the airport, with 5.4 million passengers. International travel surged in 2024, with 2.7 million passengers, a 13.6% increase compared with 2023. It still, however, hasn't caught up to the 3.8 million international travelers in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.
Topping the efforts for international air service last year: Aer Lingus introduced nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Dublin; Volaris launched nonstop routes to Tijuana, creating access to almost 40 Mexican cities; Virgin Atlantic resumed nonstop service to Manchester, England; Norse Atlantic Airways began direct flights to London's Gatwick; Canada's Porter Airlines resumed seasonal service to Ottawa and Montreal; and Korean Air expanded with daily flights to and from Seoul.
Potential of new markets
Developing more ancillary attractions around the third Formula 1 race (Nov. 20 to 22) and Allegiant Stadium hosting WrestleMania 41 (April 20 and 21) has Alex Dixon, the new CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas, optimistic about 2025.
"What I'm excited about is we need to stimulate new demand by speaking to new markets and creating curated experiences that tap into cultural elements. We can drive new traffic by being hyperspecific," Dixon said, citing efforts that grew around the National Finals Rodeo after its arrival in 1985.
"We took the microculture and made it the dominant culture during a period of time [December] that was soft for Las Vegas," Dixon said. That model could be better applied to events such as the lunar new year, Pride Month and the NBA Summer League, he said.
"What we have to do is to not rest on our laurels: Continue to grow our core business in and around corporate groups [and] Southern California," Dixon said. "We need more people to think of Las Vegas as a destination where they can do business, they can have fun, they can create and into the future celebrate cultural experiences in a way that are distinctly amazing."
Dixon said he'd like see Vegas make inroads in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
"We could do a better job of making sure that we that we really lean into some of the cultural elements of the South Asian community to make sure that they think of Resorts World Las Vegas as a destination to be able to come and enjoy," Dixon said. "We as a city could lean into helping to celebrate, whether it's Diwali or celebrate other cultural heritage moments, to drive new demand."
Correction: Alex Dixon is the CEO of Resorts World Las Vegas. An incorrect title was given in the original report.