Vegas Inc – Las Vegas visitor volume inched upward in August, bringing the total number of travelers to Southern Nevada nearly even with last year over eight months.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported August visitor counts up 0.9 percent to 3.4 million for the month, bringing the 2013 total to 26.7 million.
It was the second straight month of monthly percentage increases and the fifth increase in eight months this year.
The average daily room rate was up 3.3 percent to $105.47 a night for the month. Strip room rates were up 4.7 percent to $113.70 while the downtown average daily room rate was off 2.6 percent $64.94.
Citywide occupancy was up 0.3 percentage points to 84.3 percent for August, with hotel occupancy flat at 87.7 percent and motel occupancy up 2.4 points to 53.5 percent.
The number of meetings and conventions held in Las Vegas was down 13.1 percent to 1,074 in August, leading convention attendance down 7.3 percent to 443,561. The Deaf Nation World Expo, which drew 23,000 people last year, didn’t meet in Las Vegas this year.
For the year, the number of conventions is up 6.4 percent over 2012 to 14,569 and convention attendance is up 3.1 percent to 3.6 million for the year.
The LVCVA, which also monitors visitor volume in Laughlin and Mesquite, said volume was up 0.9 percent to 188,990 in Laughlin and up 2 percent to 73,809 in Mesquite in August.
