It’s official: No visitation record in 2017

The Las Vegas Convention Center board of directors on Tuesday received a report with the preliminary visitation statistics for 2017.

Kevin Bagger, executive director of the LVCVA Research Center, said visitation for the year was down 1.7 percent from 2016’s record 42.2 million.

Bagger said the downturn was attributable to lower available room inventory and a slight decline in occupancy. Hundreds of hotel rooms were offline through 2017 as renovations occurred at Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood Resort, Harrah’s, The Linq Hotel, Monte Carlo, Palms and Palace Station.

The Oct. 1 shooting also resulted in a dip in visitation, mostly in October and November.

Occupancy for the year fell 0.4 percentage points from 2016 to 88.7 percent, but the average daily room rate rose 2.8 percent to $129 a night.

Bagger confirmed that 2017 was Las Vegas’ best year for conventioneers, with 6.6 million arriving for meetings and trade shows.

Bagger’s team is forecasting a 1.2 percent increase in visitation for 2018 to 42.7 million, which would be short of 2016’s record level. The reason for the conservative estimate: continued low inventory with renovations continuing at Monte Carlo (to be renamed Park MGM), the Luxor and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Convention Center expansion and renovation, Ralenkotter vowed to be on board when the facility opens in January 2021.

At least two speakers at the ceremony referred to the new 600,000-square-foot exhibition hall for which ground was broken as “Ralenkotter Hall.”

The December board conversation about C-suite succession included a decision to create the chief marketing officer position, and

Tull was always the clear favorite to fill that role. The new position will pay in the range of $171,900 and $305,100 a year.

The appointment of Finger to chief financial officer completed the executive moves.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @Rickvelotta on Twitter.