Tourism officials say it’s too early to determine if self-isolation mandates for travelers returning to four states from Nevada will have a significant impact on Las Vegas visitation.
New York, New Jersey, Hawaii and Connecticut have instructed residents to quarantine for 14 days after returning from a number of states considered to be COVID-19 hot spots, including Nevada. Chicago on Friday issued similar orders for its residents.
Nevada’s cumulative test positive rate was at 7.39% on Monday, the 19th consecutive day it has increased.
“It is premature to determine whether the self-isolation rules in some states are having an effect on tourism,” said Lori Nelson-Kraft, a spokeswoman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, in a statement. “These decisions by state leaders illustrate the significance of our Vegas Smart efforts, including strong support for mandatory masks and other precautions our state is taking. We certainly understand and respect the extra precautions being taken by other states and are hopeful these combined efforts will help keep travelers safe.”
Visitors from the states in question aren't initially expected to be regulars in the resort corridor in the reboot of the Strip, which started to gradually reopen June 4 with strict safety protocols following nearly 80 days of pandemic closures.
Rather, a bulk of the visitors are automobile travelers from California and other neighboring states. And, judging by the traffic jam Sunday after Independence Day weekend on southbound Interstate 15, Californians — who in 2019 represented 18% of the visitors to Las Vegas — are still coming.
The authority will release its June visitor statistics later this month. The total will be somewhere between the two extremes of May (about 151,000 visitors) and July 2019 (about 3.6 million).
“We haven’t seen data on self-quarantine measures in Eastern states and will forgo the opportunity to speculate on what may or may not happen in the future,” said Virginia Valentine, president of the Nevada Resort Association, in a statement. “As visitation to Las Vegas continues to build and to ensure it stays on track, we strongly urge the public to get tested, wear a mask, stay socially distant and follow the recommended safety guidance from medical experts.”
Restricting guests from Chicago has the potential to hurt Las Vegas the most, as nearly 815,000 visitors came from the Chicago area in 2019, the third-largest air origination location behind Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to the LVCVA.
In 2019, just over 510,000 visitors came to Southern Nevada through the air via the New York City area to account for just under 3% of the 18.6 million visitors arriving via air travel last year. Air travelers to Las Vegas from Honolulu made up 1.2% — just over 229,000 — of all air visitors in 2019.
Of course, people are flying less during the pandemic out of safety concerns. McCarran International Airport only had 110 monthly scheduled arrivals in April at the lowest point of the pandemic.
For July, officials expect flight arrivals to be in excess of 280 per day. By August, they hope for more than 330 daily arrivals.
“The significant investment in increased scheduling shows the confidence our airline partners have in travelers’ demand to return to our incredible destination,” said Rosemary Vassiliadis, director of aviation for Clark County, in a statement last month.
Nevada is being aggressive in trying to limit the virus spread. Gov. Steve Sisolak announced last week that the state will stay in the second phase of its reopening plan until at least Aug. 1. Also, he mandated wearing a mask in public.
A representative from Sisolak’s office didn’t return a request for comment on the mandatory quarantine for visitors. Two resort companies also declined to comment.