Las Vegas, international travelers glad to see each other again

Inside Terminal 3 at Harry Reid International Airport, two young women from England waited to board their flight back to London. The women, in their 20s and part of a traveling group of four, were at the end of a 10-day vacation in Las Vegas, a trip that had been delayed for two years because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2019, the year before the pandemic started, Las Vegas welcomed more than 42 million visitors, about 5.7 million of whom were international travelers. Largely because of various health-related travel restrictions—domestically and abroad—only about 2 million international travelers visited Las Vegas during 2020 and 2021 combined.

While issues surrounding the virus remain—and pockets of hot spots continue to appear—people around the world have been doing more international travel.

At Harry Reid International, more than 240,000 international travelers arrived and departed in May, about 40,000 more than in April.

Only about 760,000 foreign travelers passed through the airport all of last year.

During a recent Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board meeting, members voted to resume pre-pandemic investment levels toward international marketing efforts.

The board agreed to invest more than $2.5 million annually to marketing efforts aimed at nations such as Canada, Mexico and England, traditionally some of the top feeder countries for international tourism here.

At the meeting, board member Michael Naft said tourism officials needed to keep fighting for international visitors, despite the fact that overall tourism has been strong.

At an economic forum at M Resort in June, Brian Gordon, a principal with financial analytics firm Applied Analysis, lauded the quick rebound of tourism numbers after the darkest days of the pandemic.

He pointed to Las Vegas’ emergence as a pro sports city as having helped boost tourism during a time when international travel—historically about 14% of all visitors, according to the LVCVA—was slow.

“We’ve had nearly 40 million visit Las Vegas during the past 12 months,” Gordon said. “We’re almost back. How are we doing it? We’re doing it with sporting events and special events.”

In April, about 3.4 million visitors came to Las Vegas, a figure that was only about 100,000 off the total for the same month in 2019, according to the LVCVA.

Nearly 2.2 million people attended a convention or trade show in Las Vegas last year, about a third of the estimated total from 2019.

According to a June economic impact report by Applied Analysis for the LVCVA, the “full recovery of Southern Nevada’s convention and meeting segment, as well as the return of international visitors, will be keys in the continued rebound of regional visitation in the coming years.”

Though neighboring Mexico and Canada generate the highest percentage of international visitors to Las Vegas, the city must work to get travelers from Asia to return.

According to the LVCVA, only about 33,000 visitors from Asia came to Las Vegas last year. In 2019, over 800,000 visited.

Whether it is people from England, Asia or any other country, Las Vegas tourism officials are ready to welcome every potential visitor back to Southern Nevada.

As for those, like Clifford, who are making return trips to Las Vegas, that’s even better.

“I’d say Vegas, New York and Florida are the places that are most talked about back home,” Clifford said. “It’s so fun here.”

As she sat in a waiting area at the airport, Crabb said she was ready to return home. “We’re tired, and we’ve spent all of our money,” she said.

By Bryan Horwath