Visitation to Las Vegas is close to pre-COVID-19 levels, but it’s not there quite yet. That’s the outlook as Las Vegas tourism officials look to next year as 2022—which has by nearly all accounts been a successful stretch—winds down.
In August, close to 3.2 million people visited Las Vegas, up 6% from the same month in 2021 but down 11% from August 2019.
The barometer for the ongoing tourism comeback is 2019, because that was the last full year with no coronavirus-related disruption for visitation.
Though Las Vegas welcomed more than 32 million visitors last year, certain segments—including international travel and convention business—still track behind 2019 totals.
The sooner Las Vegas tourism officials can nudge the yearly visitation total back to—or above—42 million, the better for a city and region that rely heavily on leisure dollars.
“From a domestic standpoint, we’re over-recovered,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “We’re not all the way recovered internationally, but that’s largely because of the slow recovery in Asia.”
In 2019, 14% of the roughly 42 million people—around 5.8 million—who visited Las Vegas were from a foreign country, according to the LVCVA.
Largely because of various sets of travel restrictions around the globe and attitudes about the spread of COVID-19, the percentage of domestic visitors to Las Vegas ballooned to 97% in 2021.
This year, more people have chosen to travel and more have been vaccinated against the coronavirus—in the United States, virtually everyone who wants to be vaccinated is vaccinated—which means Las Vegas should come close to the pre-pandemic figure of 42 million visitors.
Through August, Las Vegas attracted about 25.2 million visitors, so it will almost certainly blow past 32 million this year.
If it attracts, on average, 3 million tourists in September, October, November and December, Las Vegas would finish 2022 having welcomed more than 37 million visitors.
That would be about how many visitors came to the city in 2010.
On the air traffic side—about half of all visitors to Las Vegas arrive via airplane—Harry Reid International Airport set a passenger record in 2019, when it welcomed 51.5 million arriving and departing passengers.
Air travel to Las Vegas was down significantly in 2020 and 2021 but has roared back in 2022.
Through August, Harry Reid International has welcomed nearly 34 million arriving and departing passengers this year, which includes a record-breaking three-month period from June through August.
If the airport averages about 4.4 million passengers per month—it logged 4.6 million in August—it will reach 51.5 million for the year.
Rosemary Vassiliadis, director of aviation for Harry Reid International, said she believes the total air traveler figure for this year will get close to the 2019 number.
“We may get very close to what we had in 2019 at the end of this calendar year, but I believe next year, with more recovery going on, is going to be a big growth year for our town,” Vassiliadis said. “From an aviation standpoint, there were a lot of aircrafts that were taken out of service once the pandemic hit, and a lot of those will be back in service [next year]. It’s not easy to put an aircraft back in service.”
Like Hill, Vassiliadis said the demand for travel to Las Vegas hasn’t wavered.
The two tourism leaders were on hand this month for the Routes World 2022 trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
This year marked the first time since 2013 that Las Vegas hosted the global conference, which brings together officials from airlines, airports and tourism hot spots.
Hill said the event served as a good reminder to Las Vegas tourism officials that there are markets around the world that could be tapped into to help the city with its international travel recovery.
“Over the next 12 months or so, I think we will get back to 100%, internationally,” Hill said. “But we also see real growth opportunity internationally. It’s a big world out there. Part of what we’re working on is getting more flights directly to Las Vegas, which would make a big difference.”
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This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.