Tourism continues steady decline in Las Vegas

(The Center Square) — The $87 billion tourism industry in Las Vegas has been on a steady, downward tumble in recent months.

The number of visitors has fallen since last year, underperforming the vast majority of the U.S. in year-to-year visits. The decline comes amidst a sharp drop in international tourists, immigration fears within the industry’s workforce and a long-passed peak for Las Vegas casinos.

This past May visitors to Las Vegas dropped 6.5% from 2024, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported. It’s right on average with 2025’s tourism decline, kept lower by more balanced visitor totals in January.

“The level of uncertainty is dramatically higher today than it was six months ago,” UNLV Center for Business and Economic Research Director Stephen Miller told KTNV.

Among those showing uncertainty are Las Vegas’ international visitors, who came through the Sin City 13% less in June.

The decrease in tourists means more than extra walking space along the Las Vegas Strip. It's a hit to the local economy.

In 2024, 22.6% of people in the Las Vegas region were employed in the wider tourism industry, and 13.2% of all residents worked in hotels and casinos, according to the visitors authority.

The decrease in tourism means a smaller demand for workers in the industry and less money coming into the state economy.

A recent Smith Travel Research study of Las Vegas hotels showed a decrease in occupancy, average daily rates and revenue per available room from July 13-19. Behind Houston’s low numbers, which the STR study blamed on the 2024 Hurricane Beryl, Las Vegas underperformed the rest of the 25 biggest U.S. markets.

The recent low point for the tourism industry takes place as fears of ICE-led immigration raids has spread like wildfire among immigrant hospitality workers, as per the local Culinary Workers’ Union leader. At the same time, all non-immigrant visitors to the U.S., including tourists, will soon have to pay a $250 visa fee to enter the country, which could likely deter some visitors.

But the decline in Las Vegas tourism also continues a much longer trend against the city’s most famous industry.

“The casino industry in Las Vegas peaked in 2006,” David Schmidt, chief economist with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, told The Center Square.

Schmidt added that while the industry still looms large over Las Vegas, it’s stuck in a cycle, “dropping a little bit in recessions, not coming back quite as far [after]. Where we’ve seen growth in hospitality has been in food services.”

But Schmidt added he sees a positive future for the Las Vegas tourism industry, with the growing influence of the entertainment alternatives to casinos.

“I think that’s the positivity flip side," he said. "If all you knew was that the casino industry in Las Vegas was stagnant for the last two decades, you’d think it’s doing bad, but the non-casino entertainment is helping to round out that puzzle even more than the casino industry.”