While the jury's still out on whether or not the United States is in the midst of a tourism slump, one thing is certain-Las Vegas has struggled to regain its stride after a tough year.
Initially, tourism officials predicted Las Vegas would welcome more than 43 million visitors for the first time ever in 2017. In the end, the numbers were slightly shy of that mark, totaling just 42.2 visitors, or a decrease of 1.7 percent over the record-breaking 2016.
Some slippage can be expected, of course, after a huge year-especially since 2016 was the third record breaker in a row-but the numbers buck a trend of booming global tourism last year. They also fly in the face of other major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Orlando, which all shattered visitor records for 2017.
Of course, Las Vegas' tourism industry faced an uphill battle after a gunman killed more than 50 people at a concert on the Las Vegas strip. But the numbers had already dipped slightly before that incident took place.
The first quarter of 2018 didn't bring much relief, with numbers slipping 3.3 percent, 0.6 percent and 0.9 percent (respectively) during the first three months of the year.
But as any gambler knows, sit at the table long enough and you're sure to see a reversal of fortune. The most recent statistics show back-to-back increases in visitor numbers to Las Vegas in April (0.1 percent) and May (0.9 percent).
The numbers alone aren't enough to propel Sin City back into record-breaking territory, nor can two months' worth of data really be considered a trend, but coupled with a respective growth in ADR (4.4 percent and 7.4 percent) and RevPAR (4.7 percent and 7.8 percent), they should at least have area hoteliers breathing easier for a little while.
In total, Las Vegas welcomed 17,590,400 visitors through May of this year, a decrease of .8 percent over the same period last year.
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