Las Vegas Losing Bet on Tourism as Number of Visitors Hits New Low

Hotel occupancies plummet 17 percent in early July, marking steepest decline for a major tourism market.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images
The Sphere, a spectacular entertainment facility at Las Vegas with a 160,000-square-foot round LED screen. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Las Vegas appears to be losing its luck as tourism to the desert gambling mecca has plummeted.

The number of visitors to Sin City has declined in 2025, with hotel occupancies dropping nearly 15 percent in June and another 17 percent in July so far, marking the steepest decline for a top tourism market so far this year, according to the San Francisco Gate. Air Travel has also dropped for several consecutive months, down 4 percent for the first half of 2025.

“I would call it a slowdown,” director of research at the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Stephen Miller, said to Travel Weekly. “The level of uncertainty is dramatically higher today than it was six months ago.”

Las Vegas’ main airport handled close to 5 million travelers in May, representing a 3.9 percent decline compared to the same month last year, according to airport authorities. Domestic passenger volume dropped 3.7% to 4.6 million, while international traffic totaled just over 300,000 passengers.

The dip in international visitors is likely due to tourists from Canada avoiding the city in protest over President Trump’s proposal to make Canada the 51st state, alongside ongoing tariff disputes that dampened cross-border travel demand.

Air Canada flights into Las Vegas are down 21.7 percent to 41,577 passengers, while budget carrier WestJet dropped 34.6 percent, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Earlier this week, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill addressed the decline in visitors while speaking to commercial real estate executives at an event at the Orleans Hotel and Casino.

“The last couple of months haven’t been quite as good, and things are down a little bit, as everybody knows,” Mr. Hill said. “Visitation is down about seven-ish percent, and ADR [average daily room rates] are also down, and revenue per room is down 14 percent.”

“That’s the largest drop we’ve seen year-over-year, month-over–month this century other than in a crisis.”


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