The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has released the city’s tourist figures for March 2022, and the numbers indicate that a return to pre-pandemic levels of traffic may not be far away.
According to the LVCVA report, visitor volume increased nearly 50 percent from March of 2021, representing the highest volume since 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year. The revived convention and trade show industry was the biggest needle-mover, as the city welcomed just under 500,000 attendees for the month, which is about 90 percent of pre-pandemic averages.
Kevin Bagger, LVCVA vice president, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that total hotel occupancy increased “approximately 25 points year over year,” and that weekend occupancy in particular was only 5 points below March 2019 figures.
Interestingly enough, average room rates for the month actually exceeded 2019’s figures, and not by a small margin. This year’s average of $163.14 was over 20 percent higher than that of March 2019, which was reported at $133.95.
Some industry experts believe that April could bring even higher rates after a slew of recent successful events, including multiple concerts at Allegiant Stadium, the three-day 2022 NFL Draft, and various trade shows.
According to the LVCVA, the one sector that showed a marked decline was highway traffic in and around Las Vegas–the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) reported that the average daily vehicle count at the Nevada-California border section of Interstate 15 declined 4.5 percent from March 2021.
