Las Vegas: New report calculates damage of COVID-19 on tourism economy at $34B

But the 22-page report commissioned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and authored by Jeremy Aguero, a principal at Las Vegas-based Applied Analysis, quantifies just how much damage was done.

Aguero estimates that the pandemic resulted in a $34 billion drop in total economic input when considering direct, indirect and induced sources — direct visitor spending, suppliers and vendors, and employee spending. A total of 125,600 jobs are believed to have been lost.

“The COVID-19 pandemic left an indelible imprint on the Southern Nevada tourism industry and the broader regional economy,” Aguero said in the report’s executive summary. “Compared to recent recessions, the COVID-19 recession’s magnitude was unprecedented in its depth and speed. … While the economic losses in 2020 were material, it is worth noting that many of the economic conditions and shortfalls have persisted into early 2021,” the report said.

Between the details Aguero outlined in his report and fresh data suggesting that Southern Nevada is seeing setbacks in the COVID fight, the immediate future isn’t particularly bright.

The uptick in cases and the renewed mask mandates, both locally and in other parts of the country, could lead to another slowdown for all U.S. travel in the short term, UNLV hospitality professor Amanda Belarmino said.

“However, I would hope that the new mask mandate will assuage some of those fears,” Belarmino added. “Nobody does hospitality like Las Vegas, and our COVID-19 response has been second to none. We know the casino-hotels had previously implemented successful mitigation measures, and as those return, we will continue to host guests safely."

Visitation continued to climb at local resorts in June, though not at the levels prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported Thursday.

It was the sixth straight month of improved visitation figures. Most of the key tourism indicators were better than May’s numbers and 2020 figures, but most were not as high as those from 2019.

The authority reported 2.971 million visitors in June, beating May’s 2.878 million by 3.2 percent and June 2020’s 1.065 million by 178.9 percent. But the total was still 17.6 percent behind June 2019’s 3.607 million.

By Richard N. Velotta and Colton Lochhead