LV visitor numbers increase for second straight month

By Tim Richardson

Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009 | 9:52 a.m.

Las Vegas saw more visitors in October than it did in the same month a year ago, marking the second consecutive month of a year-over-year increase.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority this morning reported that 3,153,159 people visited Las Vegas in October. That's up from 3,039,272 visitors in October 2008 -- an increase of 3.7 percent.

Visitor numbers also were up in September compared to a month earlier, marking the first increase in consecutive months since November and December of 2007.

Room inventory was up 2.8 percent in October, to 141,489 rooms, as total occupancy was down 1.2 percent from a year ago.

The increase in visitors came at the expense of lower room rates. The average daily room rate in October was $99.59, which is a 14 percent drop from the average of $115.68 a year earlier.

The number of conventions held in Las Vegas dropped 4.3 percent, to 2,364 in October, as convention attendance dropped 8.3 percent compared to last year, with 349,383 visitors attending conventions in October.

Average daily auto traffic on Interstate 15 at the California-Nevada line is up 1.9 percent.

Visitor volume was down 11.3 percent in Laughlin and down 25.6 percent in Mesquite compared to October 2008.