LAS VEGAS — The top tourism official in Las Vegas says the city hasn’t priced out regular travelers, even as July visitor counts fell and casinos took in more from gamblers.
Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), said monthly figures can bounce around but argued the destination remains competitive at different price points.
“We’re not happy with the downturn but the city’s taking steps to address that,” Hill told reporters Friday.
vegas has actually been dying for quite some time, and way before trump, trump and covid just accelerated everything. vegas was expensive even before the pandemic.
Annual visitation took a dip during Covid and afterwards but largely recovered as recently as 2024. Pre-Covid visitation was roughly 42+ million/ year. In 2024, there were 41+ million visitors. I think it’s true that prices have gone up, but haven’t seen any data. I’m not convinced that the expense is the driver of this trend though… possibly a brewing recession, but the biggest difference from last year is US policy.