Las Vegas Travel Industry Chalked Up All-Time High in August

The Las Vegas tourism industry roared to life after a three-month slide in visitor numbers with the area’s strongest August on record.

More than 3.3 million visitors came to the valley during the month, a 2.7 percent increase compared with 3.2 million visitors in August 2005, according to statistics released Thursday by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The number of visitors fell 0.9 percent in May, 2 percent in June and 0.5 percent in July. August recorded the biggest jump this year since a 2.6 percent increase was reported in February.

Analysts for the convention and visitors authority said attendance at trade shows and meetings helped fuel the increase. Some 606,595 convention delegates arrived during the month, a 53.3 percent increase compared with 395,747 a year ago.

Through August, Las Vegas has played host to more than 26 million visitors, 0.6 percent more than the 25.9 million that came to the city through August 2005. Last year was the busiest year in local history with nearly 38.6 million annual visitors.

Hotel and motel occupancy was up 2 percent to 90.7 percent with the average daily room rate climbing to $116.57, a 25 percent increase from $93.22 a year ago. The figures were based on a room inventory of 133,347.

Airline travel in August grew 4.1 percent with more than 4 million passengers coming through McCarran International Airport during the month.