The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament began in full swing this weekend, and it just could be the catalyst to jumpstart tourism in Las Vegas.
Add in spring break and a long St. Patrick's Day celebration, and you have the makings for a rebound (no pun intended).
Traditionally, visitors have poured into the city for the annual tournament to legally bet on the games. That is especially true for the first weekend of the three-week tournament when there are 48 games played over a four-day span.
Last year, the tournament was canceled in its entirety because of the coronavirus pandemic.
But judging, anecdotally, by the traffic that came through McCarran International Airport on Friday, tourism is picking up.
Numbers won't be available until later this week, but McCarran spokesman Joe Rajchel told the Las Vegas Review-Journal passenger traffic had been steadily increasing over the past month, and that trend is expected to continue as capacity limits are increased and more people receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Gamblers swarmed the sportsbook at the new Circa Hotel over the weekend to place bets on the college basketball games.
The weather was also conducive to Las Vegas' thriving pool scene. The Circa says Stadium Swim has a 4,000 person capacity across 337 chaise lounges, 30 private cabanas and 38 day beds. The area features six pools and a 40-foot HD screen.
Tourism dropped in Las Vegas from 42 million visitors in 2019 to 19 million in 2020, though officials remain upbeat.
"There's real pent-up demand for travel and there's pent-up demand for the Las Vegas experience," Lori Nelson-Kraft, Senior Vice President of Communications for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said. "Now what you are looking at is the opportunity for travel to really reopen, and for people to really start planning their vacations. While it's going to take some time to recover, you're going to see more visitation as each month goes by.
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