Paul Szydelko
Setting airport and gaming records, Las Vegas welcomed 38.8 million visitors in 2022, 20.5% more than 2021 when many international pandemic restrictions were still in place, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).
The number, while impressive and encouraging for local tourism officials, still falls short of the record 42.9 million in 2016 and 42.5 million in 2019, the last year before Covid-19 broadly affected travel and tourism.
"We're still feeling the effects of pent-up demand from Covid as well as overall growth of interest," Brett Abarbanel, executive director of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told the Associated Press. She said the city's entertainment mix has grown since the pandemic's outset with "sports, shows, concerts and, of course, gambling."
Meeting and conventions, which drew more than 5 million, continued to ramp up in 2022, the first full calendar year of trade shows since the pandemic's outset. That number is more than double the 2.2 million convention attendees in 2021 and about 75% of 2019's total of 6.6 million convention attendees.
Hotel occupancy for 2022 also came in at a robust 79%, with weekend occupancy at 89% and midweek occupancy at 75%. Las Vegas leads the nation in overall hotel occupancy, which averages 63%, according to the LVCVA data.
"From the initial shadow of the omicron variant to record-shattering room rates later in the year, Las Vegas enjoyed a robust recovery trajectory across core tourism indicators in 2022," according to the LVCVA's executive summary of the report.
The year included several major sporting events -- the NFL Pro Bowl last February and NFL Draft in April, a full NFL season for the Las Vegas Raiders and international soccer matches that featured Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, Juventus FC, Chelsea FC and others at Allegiant Stadium.
Top venues
Allegiant Stadium was the world's top-grossing stadium from Nov. 1, 2021, to Oct. 31, 2022, according to Billboard. The 65,000-seat stadium hosted 24 shows, taking in $185 million with more than 1 million attending.
Across Interstate 15 from the stadium, T-Mobile Arena was fourth on Billboard's list of arenas. It hosted 58 shows, with 731,000 guests and $124.7 million gross revenue.
Also making Billboard's lists:
• MGM Grand Garden Arena, third among venues with 10,001 to 15,000 capacity, with 27 shows, 238,000 guests and $45.2 million gross revenue.
• Dolby Live (formerly Park Theater), first among venues with 5,000,1 to 10,000 capacity, with 98 shows, 478,000 guests and $114.4 million gross revenue.
• Resorts World Theatre, first among venues with 5,000 or less capacity, with 87 shows, 327,000 guests and $55.2 million gross revenue. The Colosseum at Caesars and the Encore Theater at Wynn were third and eighth, respectively, in that category.
Airport traffic
Harry Reid Airport broke its all-time annual record for number of passengers served with 52.6 million in 2022, surpassing the 2019 record of 51.5 million. The airport served 39.7 million in 2021.
In December, nearly 4.4 million passed through the airport, an increase of almost 13% from December 2021. The airport drew 5.1 million passengers in October 2022, the first time the airport exceeded 5 million in a single month.
"The trajectory of Las Vegas air travel throughout 2022 was nothing short of remarkable," said Rosemary Vassiliadis, Clark County director of aviation. "We are no longer talking about an air travel recovery at Harry Reid International Airport; this is an undeniable period of growth that we expect to continue in 2023."
Service from South Korea, Germany and Switzerland, which resumed in 2022, helped propel the airport's international travel recovery to pre-pandemic levels. International schedules are expected to grow with the further easing of global travel restrictions, Vassiliadis said.
Reid Airport, which added three airlines and 36 markets in 2022, is also beginning a project to increase the capacity and convenience of customer parking for Terminal 1.
Gaming wins
In another year-end report, the Nevada Gaming Control Board said that casinos statewide won an all-time high $14.8 billion in 2022, up more than 23% from 2019. December also marked the 22nd consecutive month that casinos reported at least $1 billion in winnings, an unprecedented stretch in the state's history.
Several factors contributed to Nevada's record level of gaming win over this time period, said Michael Lawton, senior economic analyst at the Nevada Gaming Control Board. "[There were] multiple signature special events which occurred throughout the year, stimulus, and steady demand for gaming-related activities by resilient customers whose behavior has remained consistent in the face of several challenges, which include record levels of inflation and fuel prices."
The Las Vegas Strip's recorded total win was $8.29 billion, an all-time record, beating the previous record of $7.1 billion set in 2021.
"Nevada has continued to benefit from the surging demand for leisure travel domestically and internationally and a healthy local economy experiencing record employment levels," Lawton said.