| LAS VEGAS, Oct. 19, 1999 - The number of visitors to Las Vegas this
past August jumped 10.1 percent, to 2,962,887, compared to August 1998,
according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).
The 10.1 percent increase represents almost 273,000 additional visitors
for the month. For the calendar year through August, Las Vegas visitor
volume is up 10.1 percent, or more than 2 million additional visitors compared
to the same time period in 1998. Las Vegas is on track to bring in a record
34 million visitors for 1999. The total for 1998 was 30.6 million visitors.
Las Vegas continues to experience its largest percentage increases in visitor
volume in five years.
Average citywide hotel and motel occupancy in August stood at 90.5 percent,
compared to 89.2 percent in August 1998. Las Vegas� room inventory this
past August was 117,528.
For other major cities in the United States, average hotel and motel
occupancy levels hover around 64 percent. �What makes 90 percent
occupancy levels especially noteworthy,� said LVCVA President Manuel J.
Cortez, �is that Las Vegas has more than 11,000 additional rooms to fill
over the same time period last year. With the opening of Paris in September,
Las Vegas room inventory now exceeds 120,000.� Convention attendance in
August was 227,783, down by 8 percent from August 1998. Year to date, convention
attendance is up 12.6 percent, to more than 2.4 million delegates.
Visitor volume to Laughlin, Nevada, located 90 miles southeast of Las
Vegas on the Colorado River, was up 5.1 percent in August, to almost 400,000
visitors. Laughlin�s visitor volume year to date through August stood at
more than 3.1 million visitors, an increase of 4.6 percent.
Airline passenger traffic through McCarran International Airport in
August was up 13.1 percent in August, to 2.9 million passengers. Airline
passenger traffic for the year is up 10.3 percent through August, to more
than 22 million passengers. |
