Tourism downturn in Las Vegas
The travel world is studying occupancy statistics in Vegas, while visitors hope for discounts
Unless a last-minute surge reverses the picture, travel to Las Vegas will remain a single percentage point below normal in 2018. The reason, of course, is the shooting tragedy of 2017, in which 58 people were killed by a lone gunman.
Actually, traffic to Las Vegas was slow even before the 2017 tragedy. And contributing to that condition is the fact that no new hotels have been added to Sin City’s total for the past 10 years.
However, that’s about to change in late 2019 or early 2020. Several large new hotel resorts are presently in construction there, and a giant football stadium presently being built is also regarded as a considerable plus that will attract heavy new tourism.
But all of this is a full year away. In the meantime, the doleful statistics are a boon for the tourist. With travel to Vegas still being down, there are countless weeks when visitors planning a midweek stay are able to negotiate hotel discounts. If you’re one of them, you should remember to bargain harder than you normally would when you call a reservations number for a midweek booking.
In other words, Las Vegas is not presently awash with business, and it won’t be until its new stadium and attractive new hotels reverse the trend.
Arthur Frommer is the pioneering founder of the Frommer’s Travel Guide book series. He co-hosts the radio program, The Travel Show, with his travel correspondent daughter Pauline Frommer. Find more destinations online and read Arthur Frommer’s blog at frommers.com.