They’ll take it. January 2015 tourism numbers were up only 0.1 percent from January 2014, but hey, up is up. The paltry climb is surprising considering the Super Bowl was February 1, and the Consumer Electronics Show was filled with so much buzz. Convention attendance on the whole was up 8 percent to 682,330.
The month’s average daily room rate of $136.02 was up 15.1 percent from a year ago, marking the highest total since the Great Recession. However, occupancy rates were down in every category citywide, except for downtown Las Vegas. Auto traffic on the month was estimated at 92, 188 vehicles per day on all major highways.
Joining in the mix were Mesquite and Laughlin, who both enjoyed spikes of their own. Mesquite’s visitation was up 7.8 percent in January compared to last 2014, while Laughlin was up 0.8 percent over the same time frame. Occupancy was also up 3.2 percent in Mesquite, compared to a climb of 7.1 percent in Laughlin, all the way to 56.5 percent.
