Operator News

US – Record post-pandemic visitation drives second best ever Strip revenue

By Phil - 31 August 2022

Las Vegas welcomed nearly 3.5m visitors in July, the highest monthly visitation since the start of the pandemic, according to data released today by the Research Center at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The boost in visitors drove Nevada’s gaming passed the $1bn mark for the 17th consecutive month in July, making it the fourth highest monthly total in history. GGR came in at $1.31bn, including the second best total ever generated by the Las Vegas Strip.

The Strip’s total in July came in at $773.3m, marking a 2.42 per cent decline from the record ever month a year earlier, but 42.7 per cent more than July 2019. The locals market saw revenues drop by 3.3 per cent, but they still came in 9.8 per cent higher than July 2019. Downtown casino revenue declined by 15.6 per cent to $60m in July 2022.

Michael Lawton, the Nevada Gaming Board’s senior economic analyst, said July 2022 faced a ‘very difficult comparison’ against the all-time record month in July 2021.

“July 2021 set a very high bar in terms of gaming win and although this month’s results decreased year over year, July 2022’s gaming win represented the fourth highest total all-time, while the Strip’s gaming win was the second highest total ever recorded, second only to July of last year,” he said. “When looking at overall gaming activity, this month’s wagering totals for slots and games was $15.1bn, which was the fourth highest total ever recorded. Demand for gaming still remains strong, customers continue to display resiliency, and leisure travel continues to benefit from a very jam-packed event calendar.”

With world-class entertainment and sports, strong airline recovery and 151,000 hotel rooms throughout the destination, overall hotel occupancy in Las Vegas surpassed 83 per cent in July, four percentage points ahead of July 2021. Weekend occupancy exceeded 91 per cent, up three percentage points from last year, while midweek occupancy reached 79 percent, up 4.5 percentage points from last year as meetings and conventions continued their steady return.

Las Vegas hosted approximately 307,000 convention attendees, roughly double that of last year, with tradeshows including Las Vegas Market at the World Market Center, Cosmoprof at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the American Culinary Federation at Caesars Forum. With 14 million square feet of meeting and event space in the destination, the meeting and convention sector historically represents $11bn in economic impact to the region and several significant tradeshows slated for the coming months demonstrate its continued recovery.

Mobile World Congress, the mobile and telecom industry’s premiere tradeshow, will be held in Las Vegas for the first time 28-30 September at the LVCC. MWC will bring together key stakeholders from companies such as Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T who will make deals that will improve technology and increase connectivity worldwide. Routes World will arrive at the LVCC 16-18 October, the first time in Las Vegas since 2013, uniting decision makers from top airlines who determine global air service. Half of the world’s new airline routes are connected to meetings at the event.

The strong visitation punctuates the return of international travel and record-setting daily passenger counts at Harry Reid International Airport, with 31 airlines currently serving 146 markets, both domestic and international. Harry Reid International Airport is the most recovered of the top 20 largest airports in the U.S. based on a percentage of pre-pandemic seat capacity.

Las Vegas visitors have no shortage of Only Vegas experiences to enjoy, including entertainment residencies such as Luke Bryan at Resorts World, Shania Twain at Planet Hollywood and Usher at Park MGM and a dynamic restaurant scene buzzing with the recent openings of The Bedford by Martha Stewart at Paris Las Vegas and Carversteak at Resorts World Las Vegas.

For the month, Nevada slots generated $839.6m, marking a fall of 3.9 from the record month with table down 1.9 per cent to $476.4m.

Baccarat generated $138m down 13.4 per cent while sportsbooks generated $16.2m, marking a fall of 51.3 per cent.