Let’s take a look at Las Vegas since it’s reopening. Now that mask mandates have been lifted federally and here in Las Vegas, you are Not required to wear a mask. Will you be coming to Las Vegas soon? Will Conventions return to pre-pandemic numbers? Will Las Vegas return to its former glory?
Let’s go to the Strip and See What the visitor traffic is like on April 20, 2022.
Will Las Vegas Conventions Bounce Back?
Las Vegas is slowly climbing out of a steep hole, lifted by tentative reopenings and the vaccine rollout. The Las Vegas area’s unemployment rate was 10.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis in December, the latest month available — the worst of any metropolitan area in the country with more than a million residents. That’s a major improvement since the rate hit 34.2% at its worst point last year.
The latest bust is the third and worst for the city in the past two decades — after downturns from 9/11 and the 2007-09 recession, which, like the pandemic-driven downturn, dealt heavy blows to its tourism-reliant economy.
Efforts over the years to diversify the city’s economy haven’t been enough to blunt tourism’s dominance. These days, Las Vegas is as committed as ever to the entertainment and gambling industry that makes it — and periodically breaks it.
With slowing Covid-19 trends, companies are lining up large conventions and entertainment acts for later this year. Casino resorts are setting up their massive pool areas for the annual kick-off amid longer sunny days in March, and the performer Usher is scheduled to start a residency at Caesars Palace. The World of Concrete will be the first major convention to return to Las Vegas, with a date set in early June. The event has attracted 60,000 attendees in previous years, but it is unclear how many will attend in June.
Despite speculation that pent-up demand will bring a “roaring 20s” to the Strip, economists and many executives say it could take a year or more to return to the kinds of crowds that were common before the pandemic. An all-time high of 42.9 million people visited Las Vegas in 2016, and convention attendance reached a record-setting 6.6 million meeting attendees in 2019.
In 2020, the number of visitors to the area dipped by 55% compared with the previous year, to a level last seen about three decades ago, when the metro area was much smaller. Gambling revenue was down by 43% on the Strip and 37% across the metro area.
Prices for hotel rooms were down to some of the lowest in three decades at the beginning of 2021, for an average of about $91 per night, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. In January 2020, the average room rate was $153.
Hotel occupancy on the Strip hovered at around half the pre-pandemic rate in the months following the June casino reopenings. In January, average occupancy on the Strip was 31%, down from about 89% occupancy the prior year.
High-profile projects show the focus remains on the leisure and hospitality sector. Las Vegas Sands Corp. said this month it has agreed to sell its Las Vegas properties, which include the Venetian and Palazzo casinos and the Sands Expo and Convention Center, for $6.25 billion to Apollo Global Management Inc. and a real-estate investment trust, Vici Properties Inc. Sands, founded by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson who died in January, plans to focus on its properties in Macau and Singapore.
“Our view is, both for the consumers and for corporate customers, the city’s relevance has really never been higher,” said Alex van Hoek, partner at Apollo Global Management, in an interview.
Casino owner Derek Stevens opened the billion-dollar Circa resort in downtown Las Vegas in October, including an amphitheater-style heated pool with a big-screen for watching sports. The outdoor space, always a feature in plans for the development, has become an even bigger asset during the pandemic as people opt to be outside.
Malaysian company Genting Group is nearly finished building Resorts World, a $4.3 billion megacasino that is the first new resort to be built on the Strip in more than a decade. The resort includes a 3,500-room hotel, a 117,000-square-foot casino and massive LED screens on each hotel tower. It is expected to open this summer.
About 90,000 people have applied for the 6,000 to 7,000 job openings at Resorts World. Job seekers range from locals working at competing casinos, locals who are still out of work and people from across the country looking to move to Las Vegas.
“We know we won’t fix the problem in Las Vegas with unemployment, but if things continue to get better like we think they are…it would really help boost the economy here,” said Scott Sibella, Resorts World president and a longtime Vegas casino executive.
Source: MarketScreener.com