Las Vegas experienced comfortable temperatures this past winter while large parts of the United States were covered in snow and bitter winds blew. The 80-degree days drew tourists in droves. Mild weather, new attractions, new hotels and major conventions will most likely mean a record year in tourism for Sin City.
In the first quarter of 2014, visitation was up 5.3 percent for every group of 10.2 million people, some of which attended conventions and trade shows. In March, McCarran International Airport reported its highest monthly count in just over five years at 3.8 million. In addition, sports events, such as the NCAA’s March Madness tournament and NASCAR’s annual March visit to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Tourists are naturally drawn to new attractions and a skyline over the Strip is sure to generate traffic. The High Roller, verified by Guinness as the tallest observation wheel in the world, draws long lines of tourists in peak times.
The opening of two hotels this year, Caesars Cromwell on Memorial Day and SLS on Labor Day, will boost tourism. Officials hope the hotels will push the visitor toll over 40 million, a benchmark for Las Vegas. The city has come close to the 40 million mark three times since 2007, which is considered the best year because all areas – hotel occupancy, room tax collections, plane passenger counts, gaming revenue and conventions – hit record numbers.
In comparison to other cities, Las Vegas holds the highest occupancy rate and has reported an 87 percent occupancy for the first quarter of 2014, up 3.6 percentage points from the previous year in the same quarter.
According to travel research firm, STR, the city’s closest contender is Oahu with 85.6 percent in the first quarter, which is down 0.8 points from 2013. Jan Freitag of STR’s global development department said first quarter earnings are slightly jarred when compared to the first quarter in 2013 because Easter was in the second quarter this year and spring break travel held off until then.
Las Vegas is also announcing its plan to build a $2.5 billion global business district to keep up with competition around the nation and the Mandalay Bay Convention Center will plug $66 million into a 350,000 square-foot expansion.
The city continues to attract international travelers and recently welcomed Switzerland Edelweiss Air to add to its mix of over 10 international airlines, aligning the city with the Convention and Visitor’s Authority goal of increasing visitors from 18 to 30 percent in less than 10 years. The Swiss airline is expected to land flights twice a week in Las Vegas. Its inaugural flight was at 88 percent capacity with 263 passengers. The flight lasted 11 hours and passengers were treated to cake, champagne from showgirls in front of the media.
The airline estimates it will fly 40,000 passengers to Las Vegas in the first year. International visitors make up 20 percent of visitors to Las Vegas and represent 32 percent on the tourism books. Foreign visitors stay longer and spend more, according to reports.
