by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:05 AM ET, Thu February 19, 2026
Las Vegas just recorded its worst decline in annual visitation since the pandemic began, recording a 7.5 percent annual drop in 2025 sparked by economic uncertainty, declining international visitation and other headwinds.
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's (LVCVA) new data, that drop represented 3.1 million less visitors to the destination, which relies heavily upon tourism. The decline was the sharpest decline since the organization began record-keeping in 1970, outside of the pandemic’s sharp declines.
Year-over-year, the numbers in December closing out 2025 were also indicators of a big problem for the tourist city: visitor volume was down 9.2 percent, the average daily rate was down 5.1 percent, room nights occupied was down 7.3 percent and RevPAR, or revenue per available room, dropped 11.8 percent from December, 2024.
Annual hotel occupancy for 2025 dropped 3.3 percent, annual ADR dropped 5 percent and RevPAR dropped 8.8 percent from 2024.
According to Reuters, the drop in visitation also means less flights: Harry Reid International Airport saw a 6 percent drop in passenger traffic last year, while December traffic fell 10.3 percent during a typically busy holiday travel period.
While convention tourism continues to be strong, leisure travel, which the city relies upon, is struggling.
"I think this is more of a microcosm of where the American consumer is than necessarily telling us where the American economy is going," Andrew Woods, who heads the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, told Reuters. He believes that budget-conscious travelers are choosing other destinations instead.
Data from November, 2025 from the LVCVA cited the city’s recent high prices as one reason for the drop in visitation, but a drop in international visitation is also making itself felt.
In August, 2025, Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley told reporters that their Canadian visitation, which comprised the city’s biggest international market, had “slowed to a drip,” during the worst of the economic Trump Slump, when Canadian travelers began cancelling their trips to the U.S. in solidarity after the president’s comments about making Canada the fifty-first state and levying heavy tariffs on our northern neighbor.
The United States as a whole saw a 25 percent drop in Canadian visitation, which could be potentially devastating for destinations that rely on them, along with other dips in visitation by those from elsewhere. January seems to continue that trend, with Statistics Canada data showing that, while the number of Canadians returning home from international trips increased 11.1 percent during the first month of the year, the number of Canadians returning home from the United States was down nearly 24.3 percent.
Reuters notes that MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment’s Las Vegas profit and revenue fell in 2025, with Caesars reporting a 20 percent drop in profit.
U.S. air carriers, according to Cirium data, are offering 7 percent less seats heading to Las Vegas for the first quarter of 2026, indicating that some airlines are taking note and trimming their schedules. Major Canadian carriers have cut capacity by 30 percent.
The city launched its first-ever city-wide sale last year to try to encourage more visitation. Hoteliers and casinos might have to continue cutting prices on hotel rooms and experiences to lure back the travelers the city lost last year.
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