According to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority data, the first four months of this year showed a decrease in the overall number of visitors. Mark Wayman, a recruiter for executives in the gaming and casino industries, told Business Insider in May that Las Vegas bookings through the summer are “the worst I’ve ever seen.”
Air traffic into Harry Reid International Airport is also trending downward, as domestic travel for the first half of 2025 was down 4% compared to last year.
Alternate link: https://archive.ph/z9oWV
I’m guessing half of the drop is Canadians
I visited Vegas last year. Regardless of any sort of economical or political issues, it was some of the most miserable heat I’ve ever experienced. Standing outside for only a few minutes exhausted me.
The heat? Having lived there years ago, it wasn’t the heat, it was the fucking stink of the strip that turned me off.
That’s why you should stay inside where there’s AC. Preferably by a slots machine.
Yeah that happens when you take away people’s financial stability and/or money in general. No one plans to spend it they plan to save it.
But also the freedom of online gambling probably contributed more. I could spend $1k on hotels, food, and travel just got get to vegas to blow away $500. Or I can buy a few pizzas, gather friends to my home, go out to dinner with them, sleep in my own bed, and spin the lottery machine arm on my phone and save most of my money instead?
I don’t think the gambling was the draw for the majority of tourists. It was a factor but they went for the entirety of activities according to the last data I saw on it. It was a destination and not just a gambling venue.
I don’t do online gambling, so maybe I am missing an important detail here, but there’s no recent development that would explain why online gambling would have an effect now, and not a year ago, or even 15 years ago.
Over the past 7-ish years more and more states have legalized online sports gambling. There was a longstanding law that essentially forbade it in most states. It was struck down at the start of this rush.
It could be part of a gradual decline as a result of that
Don’t forget the collapse of international tourism as well. It’s a double whammy.
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When wil they realize “blue strong hold” is just another term for city.
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas because we can’t afford to go there and play.
Most Canadians are actively boycotting the US because of the felon president who keeps opening his yap about the 51st state.
Not only that but you could wind up in a concentration camp as several people already have from Canada and the EU.
Hmm, I can’t think of anything in the US that may be affecting tourism right now. Anyone else drawing a blank?
Well it can’t be hostility to foreigners or the cost of living skyrocketing to the stratosphere, because there’s no way that could ever happen. Must be the Democrat’s fault. Thanks Obama.
The US government threatened to annex Canada, violently or by economic blackmail. Fuck them. I would like to cordially invite Trump to shit out his own liver.
If Vegas is a casualty, then let it die.
Call me crazy but we shouldn’t be building cities in the middle of the desert anyway.
That too
Testament to humanities hubris
No tax tips though👍
This is what Vegas looked like 6 years ago, when I decided I would never go again, at least not to the strip. Wall-to-wall fucking people on every square inch. You used to get comped things to encourage you to gamble. Those days are past. Now, you can’t even park in the hotel garage at the hotel you are staying at without paying extra.
It is so tedious to listen to complaints about the “worst ever” anything when it represents a 4% fluctuation in a trend that has positively RUINED Vegas as a destination due to constant double-digit year-over-year gains.
They’re also replacing table games with slots and even making craps and roulette better for the casinos.
I didn’t want to go to Vegas before, but now? Never.
13.2% fewer international travelers visited Las Vegas in June compared to last year.
I’m surprised it only declined that much…
I wouldn’t be surprised if Vegas wasn’t a huge international destination except for the super rich. It’s a really long way to go to gamble, and there’s a good or better attractions in other US cities.
So many states have legalized gambling and Indian casinos exist that Vegas makes zero sense anymore, unless women lose more rights and have to get divorced there or whatever.
You can gamble in California, but many cities will limit how many poker tables a casino might have. So enjoy your long wait times on weekends
I think a partial explanation can be that for most international tourists a visit to the USA is a major trip that gets planned well in advance. Easily half or even a full year ahead. Things only really got bad in the last few months, so we might still see many holidays that were planned before the madness fully set in. If that is the case I’d expect a continued decline in the future, where people choose another destination when deciding their next itinerary.
13% fewer international travelers, potentially (but unlikely) larger number in total
Just went to Vegas for the first time in a decade, it’s painful how expensive it’s gotten. A single G&T cost 20 bucks.
I couldn’t imagine why
Vegas fucking sucks though, honestly.
Yeah, I went once and would not revisit. I think it may be a personal preference. I don’t drink, buy timeshares, hire prostitutes or gamble, I’m not the target audience. Also a lot of grungy homeless people on the strip. Food was good though.
Also a lot of grungy homeless people on the strip.
That’s just tourist hotspots in the US in general (could generally just leave out the tourist part as well). I grew up in a summer tourist town and that county has the highest rates of addiction and homelessness in the entire state. When tourism becomes the economy, it pushes everything else out and leaves no room for locals to live. Half the businesses are closed 9 months out of the year and it’s so crowded during the last 3 that you couldn’t go anywhere if you wanted to.
I didn’t even find great food but that could’ve easily been the places we went. It’s just all expensive for no reason. Even bud light which is the exact same no matter where you are in the world was insane. For that!
That and the urban planning around the strip is awful. You’re herded around like cattle and fenced in.
I honestly wouldn’t return if you paid me. Had a couple good experiences with a show and such but absolutely not worth whatever they charge, etc. And with a lot of states legalizing gambling I’m wondering what the real draw is other than missing the fake gaudy hotels and such.
Decades ago, I stayed in some dump on Fremont Street. I’d consider going back there for old time’s sake (although not to that particular hotel), but fuck the strip.
Vegas is an entirely man made vacation destination, there is no natural reason to visit. It used to be that only Nevada and New Jersey had gambling but now you find gambling towns everywhere.
Maybe they should advertise doing drugs in the desert
It’s an okay stop on the way to the Grand Canyon if you’re coming from California. If I was going to see something man-made, tho, I’d rather go to the Hoover Dam.
That was my favorite part of the area, the rest was just like, Disneyworld with smoking and tits.
And I am pretty sure Disneyworld has both of those now, too, anyway.
