Las Vegas Still Good To Go, Despite Down Visitation Numbers

Forbes

08-08-2025

I visited Las Vegas this week, to check out Grand Prix Plaza, the Formula One experience. My son and I argued about whether it was 108 Fahrenheit or 110, as we went from frigid 60-degree casinos into the melting heat of the street.
Nonetheless, hot Vegas is still Vegas. And despite signs of a slowing economy (the gate agent announced there were 58 empty seats on our Southwest flight), the rideshare lot was packed. Surprisingly, so was the MGM Grand, hosting a convention whose participants brought their children, spouses and significant others.
The drop in tourism can't all be blamed on the weather. Year over year (YoY) Las Vegas has seen a decline in tourism. In June of 2024, Las Vegas reported 3,490, 600 visitors. In June 2025, the total dropped to 3,094,800, a decline YoY of 11.3%. Year to date the decline was less severe, dropping from a robust 84.4% through June of 2024 to 82.0 for 2025 through June.
Surprisingly, convention attendance actually slightly increased from in 2025, with 3,191,100 visitors through June of 2024 rising to 3,237, 500 in 2025 through June. While the increase in convention visitors was just 1.5% over that period, convention visitors are highly valued. As one story showed, 'meeting attendees spend about 3.5 times as much as leisure visitors who stay in hotels do.'
This all adds up for the city and the state. In 2024, direct visitor spending was $55.1 billion, with a total economic impact of $87.7 billion.
Still, an 11.3% decline in visitors for June 2025 over June 2024 gets one's attention. A drop like that can dent even impressive visitor numbers like the 41.7 million people who visited Las Vegas in 2024, or the 6 million who attended conventions, trade shows and conferences last year. The CEO of Caesars Entertainment CEO said Vegas would see a 'soft summer' this year on a recent earnings call.
The press and social media were quick to throw dirt on Las Vegas, like the still-undiscovered holes in the desert holding the remains of deceased mobsters.
'Las Vegas tourism is sinking — and younger Americans could be to blame,' screamed the NY Post. Fox said the decline in visitors 'confirm the social chatter that Las Vegas tourism has hit a dramatic low' and claimed Vegas was an 'experience of the past.'
I was surprised not to hear the classic grumble, 'Things were so much better when the Mob ran Vegas.'
People cited the weak economy and online gambling, available in more than half of U.S. states. GenZ and Millennials are said to gamble from their couches via phone, rather than fly or drive to Sin City.
The Nevada casino industry is well aware of this trend, and companies like MGM are involved in online gambling as well. By emphasizing a sexy, upscale experience, Las Vegas also counters the challenge posed by local casinos such as 'Indian gaming' and legal gambling in other cities, from Atlantic City to riverboats in Chicago to Chinese gambling palaces.
From the 1950's into the 1990's, Las Vegas casinos earned about 75% of their income from gambling. But today gaming represents only about a quarter of casino earnings. Entertainment, lodging, dining, liquor, clubs, and retail today provide 75% of revenue. And literally everything is a profit center. No coffee in your room—go downstairs for your ten-dollar Starbucks.
Social media likes to attack Las Vegas, calling it the domain of disappearing Baby Boomers with little appeal to younger generations. Drinking culture may also be declining, as a 2023 survey from Gallup found that just 62% of adults under 35 say they ever drink.
Meanwhile, social media blasts the high costs of dining, drinking, dancing and shows in Las Vegas. And no free parking! Gamblers grumble about tighter slots and the hated 6:5 pay-out on blackjack, which used to pay 3:2.
But here's a secret—just like that other fabulous invalid, Broadway theater, Las Vegas will be all right.
Vegas has been through much worse. Remember Covid? Las Vegas does.
I was there on March 10, 2020, when Trump announced the closing of the borders for quarantine. Nevada Governor Sisolak announced restrictions, and Las Vegas casinos were shut for 78 days. The closure led to Nevada's 219 major casinos losing $6.2 billion, a 25.2% decline. More than 25,000 people out of a workforce of 160,000 lost their jobs, as unemployment soared to 33.4%. Thousands of flights were cancelled and a number of resorts never reopened.
Yet the city roared back with millions of leisure and business travelers spending billions of dollars.
Yes, it was a little slow this week. But about 80% of the seats were filled at the Cirque Du Soleil show KA. And the streets were full of Eastern European tourists and travelers from every American state. We played blackjack with a pair of young men in their 20's who worked in a wastewater plant in Victorville, CA. In town for a convention, they were drawn to the gaming tables at New York New York like moths to a flame.
The MGM Grand, the third-largest hotel in the world with more than 5,000 rooms, seemed crowded, with conventioneers and their inflatable float-wrapped children causing a traffic jam at the elevators. They were coming up from or down to the lazy river at the MGM. There were also several other pools with less commotion.
From the food courts to high-end restaurant's like Luchini's the restaurants were full. The Netflix Bites café, featuring menus and art work referencing shows like Queen's Gambit and Money Heist, along with a scary statue from Stranger Things, had a respectable crowd at breakfast and lunch.
The renovated rooms offered a view, a refrigerator, comfortable beds and a nice bathroom. Clean sheets appeared on the bed as if by magic, a trick many high-end hotels have forgotten.
With KA, Cirque du Soleil offered stunning live entertainment you don't need to speak English to enjoy. We found friendly crowds at black jack tables, including many young people. The dealers were friendly too; a pit boss 'grandfathered' us at $10 a hand at an empty $15 table at New York, New York, which helped prolong our gambling experience until we finally lost our $120.
Meanwhile, sports like the WNBA Vegas Aces, the NFL Las Vegas Raiders, the popular NHL Golden Knights and the upcoming MLB Athletics will continue to drive visitors. The growing popularity of the November Formula 1 race and the year-round Formula 1 Experience will drive tourism, as will the appeal of high-tech concert venue The Sphere.
So is the tourist downturn a brief blip, or a worrying trend? Las Vegas has reinvented itself many times. Despite the naysayers, it's a safe bet that it will do it again.