Las Vegas’ visitation and revenue figures for November 2022 have been released via the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research (CGR), and even though tourism rates remain strong, revenues appear to be headed for decline.
According to the LVCVA, the city’s overall visitor volume came in at 3.26 million for the month, which represented a healthy 5 percent increase from November 2021’s total.
Additionally, convention visitation shot up to 582,800, a 45 percent increase year-over-year. This was good news for operators and officials alike, as the convention industry has long been considered to be the biggest sector that has still yet to return to pre-Covid levels in Las Vegas. Indeed, November’s figures still represented a 3 percent decrease from the same period in 2019.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), one of the biggest events of the year for the city, will take place January 5-8, and is expected to boost those figures.
Josh Swissman, a consultant and partner for the Strategy Organization, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that conventions and conferences are a critical piece of Las Vegas’ overall success.
“They book so far in advance,” Swissman said. “It’s a great bellwether to general economic health and interest in Las Vegas. It’s also good because that’s a big chunk of rooms that sits on the books that allows hotel operators, casino operators to yield the room rates from.”
The city’s hotel occupancy continued its steady ascent in November, coming in at 81 percent, a 3 percent increase from last year—room nights occupied totaled 3.67 million, a 5 percent increase of last year’s total for the same period.
The only figure that outperformed pre-Covid averages was room rates, as November’s average of $186.48 per night was a whopping 38 percent higher than that of 2019.
With all of that in mind, overall revenues still showed a slight decline, which is what many investors and analysts have been expecting after over a year of stellar performance.
According to figures from the CGR, Las Vegas Strip revenues totaled $669 million for the month, a drop of over 11 percent year-over-year. Statewide revenues came in at $1.22 billion, a 7.6 percent decrease from last year.
Despite the decreases, it’s tough to draw too many conclusions about the year ahead, especially given the fact that the last 18 months have produced some of the highest totals in state history. After all, November did represent the 21st consecutive month that the state posted revenues of over $1 billion.
November slot revenues for Las Vegas jumped 1.9 percent year-over-year to $416.2 million, while game revenue plummeted to $253.2 million, a decrease of 27 percent.
Baccarat figures were especially disappointing, as the Strip saw just $57 million in revenue, down over 37 percent from November 2021.
To the north in Washoe County, which encompasses Reno, Sparks and Carson City, overall November revenues dropped 4 percent year-over-year to $79 million, but the region did open two new venues in 2022, which will look to boost figures for 2023.
