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Why Las Vegas tourism seeing major declines in air travel and hotel bookings
Las Vegas tourism drops as airport traffic declines for 6th month, hotel rates fall, and locals blame high prices, fees, and inflation.
Las Vegas is facing another big hit to its tourism industry as new airport data shows a sharp drop in travelers coming to the city.
Harry Reid International Airport, Las Vegas’s main airport located just a few miles from the Strip, has now seen six straight months of declining passenger traffic, as reported by Daily Mail.
Notably, in May 2025, fewer than five million passengers went through the airport. That was a 3.9 percent drop in both domestic and international travel compared to May 2024.
International travel fell the hardest in Canada. Air Canada passenger numbers dropped 21.7 percent, while WestJet was down 34.6 percent. Domestic travel also slipped. Southwest Airlines was down 0.3 percent from last year, and Spirit Airlines plunged 42.4 percent due to its own financial troubles.
Also Read: Las Vegas compared to ghost town as tourism dips: ‘We’re starting to freak out’
Las Vegas’s shrinking tourism
These numbers are the latest sign of Las Vegas’s shrinking tourism. Tourism is the city’s biggest industry. In 2024, Las Vegas hosted 41.6 million visitors, helping Nevada earn almost $100 billion in revenue, most of it from Las Vegas visitor spending.
The decline is also showing up in hotel revenue. Strip hotels had an occupancy rate of 85.3 percent in May 2025, a drop of 3.2 percent, according to the Center for Business and Economic Research. Average room rates also fell to $198.20 in May and dropped further to $163.64 in June, down 11.3 percent from last year.
Rising costs have been blamed for keeping tourists away. In recent months, Las Vegas has been criticized for its “rip-off” pricing. Earlier this month, the Daily Mail revealed that the Bellagio Hotel was charging guests an extra $25 just to eat off plates when ordering room service.
Local businesses are being forced to shut down as fewer tourists visit. Poker Palace, a long-running family-owned casino in North Las Vegas, told its 126 workers that layoffs would begin September 30 before closing for good on October 1, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification.
Reasons for dropped tourism
Experts point to high prices, inflation, and added fees as key reasons for the drop. Las Vegas has shifted away from being known mainly as a gambler’s paradise to becoming a luxury destination with steep resort costs.
Michael Schoenberger, a professor of hospitality management, told Business Insider, “You’re starting to change the mentality of the visitor where they’re thinking, ‘Well, I could go to Las Vegas, but it’s going to be a pain in my neck, or I could go to Cancún.’” He added, “It’s a cumulative effect that’s just now starting to show up.”
