Vegas tourism, airport, casinos show rebound from virus

Las Vegas is bouncing back to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels, with new economic reports showing increases in airport passengers and tourism, and a big jump in a key index showing that casinos statewide took in $1 billion in winnings last month for the first time since February 2020.

“I don’t believe anyone imagined this level of gaming win,” Michael Lawton, senior Nevada Gaming Control Board analyst, said of a Tuesday report showing 452 full-scale casinos in the state reported house winnings at the highest total since February 2013.

The $1.07 billion reported last month topped even the $1.02 billion the board charted in March 2019.

Lawton called March 2021 “the perfect storm for gaming activity in Nevada.”

“Demand was obviously a driver,” he said, “in addition to capacity being increased to 50% on March 15 and the NCAA basketball tournament being played, after last year’s cancellation.”

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which launched a new advertising campaign on Monday, reported Tuesday that it tallied more than 2.2 million visitors in March.

The tourism figure was down 40% compared with the same month two years ago, but up from the 1.5 million tourists the authority tallied in the first half of March 2020, before casinos and other businesses were closed to prevent people from gathering and spreading COVID-19.

McCarran International Airport said Monday it handled nearly 2.6 million passengers last month, up 961,000 from about 1.6 million arriving and departing passengers in February.

In March 2019, by comparison, the airport counted 4.4 million passengers on the way to a record-setting 51.5 million travellers in 2019.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, loosened occupancy limits statewide from 35% to 50% on March 15, and plans to leave coronavirus mitigation measures to local jurisdictions on May 1.

Sisolak has set a June 1 target for lifting all statewide restrictions except face coverings, which will still be mandated.