The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) recently released visitation figures for the month of June—according to the tourism board, midweek hotel occupancy reached 80 percent for the first time since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Additionally, weekend occupancy recorded its fourth consecutive month above the 90 percent threshold.
However, the agency was sure to note that these figures are still demonstrably lower than pre-Covid averages; the midweek rate from June 2019, for instance, came in at 91.7 percent.
Despite the comparisons, the recent resurgence is still impressive, especially considering the recent increase in the overall number of rooms. Kevin Bagger, vice president of research for the LVCVA, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that with “ the opening of the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas and Resorts World since the middle of last year, overall hotel occupancy reached 82.7 percent, 6.8 points ahead of last June, but down 9 points vs. June 2019.”
While visitation rates climb back up, room rates are finally dropping back down, with June registering an average of $156.92 after back-to-back months above $175 per night. However, even the lowered rate of $156.92 is still 30.3 percent higher than that of June 2019.
For the first half of 2022 overall, the average rate was $162.60, which is a whopping 44.4 percent increase from the first half of last year.
Other findings of note include:
- Convention attendance this year is up 514 percent from the first half of 2021.
- The whole of southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas Valley and surrounding area, has seen just over 18.5 million visitors thus far in 2022.
- According to the Nevada Department of Transportation, traffic on major highways around Las Vegas has been steady at about 126,000 vehicles per day.
