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Las Vegas had a real tourism downturn in 2025, but the “ninth month in a row” claim describes a streak reported in September 2025—not the current trend. The latest monthly figures cited here, for August 2026, show fewer visitors and weaker hotel and airport measures than a year earlier, alongside nearly flat year-to-date visitor volume and gains in conventions and gaming revenue. The data do not establish that a travel boycott caused the decline.
What happened to Las Vegas tourism?
The downturn was significant over the full year: a 2026 report by the minority staff of the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee, analyzing Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) figures, says Las Vegas had 3 million fewer visitors in 2025 than in 2024—a 7.5% decline and the first annual fall since 2020. It also reports airport passenger traffic down about 6% and Canadian visitors down more than 17%.
The “ninth month in a row” wording refers to the September 2025 report that visitor volume had fallen for nine consecutive months. It should not be read as a description of 2026: LVCVA reported 25,789,100 visitors year to date through August 2026, down 0.1% from the same period in 2025.
What do the August 2026 figures show?
The LVCVA August 2026 executive summary presents a split picture. August comparisons are against August 2025; year-to-date comparisons are against the corresponding period in 2025.
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| Measure | August 2026 | Year to date through August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors | 3,034,900; down 4.3% | 25,789,100; down 0.1% |
| Convention attendance | Up 6.0% | Up 10.5% |
| Hotel occupancy | 74.1%; down 3.4 percentage points | 80.4%; down 0.3 percentage points |
| Average daily room rate (ADR) | $150.32; down 7.4% | $183.60; up 1.9% |
| Revenue per available room (RevPAR) | $111.39; down 11.5% | $147.61; up 1.5% |
| Harry Reid International Airport passengers, enplaned and deplaned | 4,149,332; down 9.2% | 34,353,312; down 7.1% |
| Clark County gaming revenue | $1,062,187,000; up 2.8% | $9,192,237,000; up 2.4% |
| Las Vegas Strip gaming revenue | Up 0.7% | Up 2.9% |
These indicators measure different things. Visitor volume is not the same as airport traffic: airport totals include residents and people passing through, not just tourists. Hotel occupancy, ADR and RevPAR are calculated from a survey sample covering more than 75% of hotel inventory, and LVCVA cautions that sample variability can affect comparisons. Gaming revenue measures casino receipts, not how many people visited or what the entire tourism industry earned.
Why do the indicators point in different directions?
One month can diverge from the year-to-date trend
Visitor volume was down 4.3% in August but down only 0.1% through the first eight months of 2026. A weak individual month does not mean that year-to-date visitation is falling at the same rate.
Convention timing affects comparisons
Convention attendance rose in August and year to date, but event scheduling influenced the monthly comparison: the CHAMPS trade show shifted from July 2025 to August 2026, and the Labor Day calendar differed. Convention gains therefore do not, by themselves, show that leisure tourism has recovered.
More casino revenue does not mean more visitors
Clark County and Strip gaming revenue rose in August and year to date even as visitor and airport passenger counts fell. Revenue can move differently from attendance, and the LVCVA figures do not establish why it did so. Hotel results also varied by time period: August ADR and RevPAR were lower year over year, while both measures were slightly higher year to date.
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Did a U.S. travel boycott cause the decline?
A boycott is one explanation offered by people in the tourism industry and local government, but the cited reporting does not measure how much of Las Vegas’s decline it caused. The Associated Press reported in August 2025 on concerns about U.S. political rhetoric and immigration policy, tariffs and tensions with Canada, as well as high prices and poor perceived value. Culinary Workers Union head Ted Pappageorge said, “If you tell the rest of the world they’re not welcome, then they won’t come.” Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley said visitors felt they were “getting nickeled and dimed” without getting value for their dollar. These are attributed explanations and perceptions, not quantified causal findings.
The Canadian decline is supported by separate evidence, but its scope matters. The JEC minority report says Canadian visitors to Las Vegas fell more than 17% in 2025. Separately, Statistics Canada figures reported by the AP in 2026 show 25% fewer Canadian return border crossings and about CA$3.3 billion less Canadian travel spending in the United States in 2025 than in 2024. Those figures describe U.S.-wide travel, not Las Vegas alone. They document a sharp contraction in Canadian travel; they cannot on their own show how much of Las Vegas’s visitor loss resulted from a boycott. Berkley’s description of Canadian tourism as having gone “from a torrent to a drip” was her characterization of the change.
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How should travelers interpret the numbers?
For someone planning a trip, these figures offer context about demand, not a forecast of what a particular hotel, flight or casino will cost. The August year-over-year declines in occupancy, ADR and RevPAR indicate softer hotel measures for that month, while the year-to-date figures show a smaller occupancy decline and modest ADR and RevPAR gains. Individual prices and availability still depend on dates, events and property.
The LVCVA visitor statistics and methodology overview provides the reporting context for its visitor measures. Read monthly and year-to-date figures separately, and avoid treating airport passenger totals, hotel survey measures, gaming receipts and convention attendance as interchangeable measures of “tourism.”
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