Visitor spending, tipping down in Las Vegas amid pandemic

She estimates her tips would average $150 to $200 during weekdays before the pandemic, and higher on weekends. Now, she brings in less than $100 on midweek shifts. Smaller crowds and limited seating at table games certainly play a role, but experts say some tourists have tighter purse strings these days.

“While there’s no doubt that some high-valued consumers have found their way back to Las Vegas … there’s a broad mix of consumers that are ultimately coming back,” said Jeremy Aguero, principal for Applied Analysis. “You’re getting a lot of drive-in traffic … (which) is going to be a bit different in terms of spend profile than what you would normally see.”

Spending less
A July report from Macquarie Research found 40 percent of Las Vegas visitors would spend less money during the pandemic, while 50 percent wouldn’t change their budgets.
Another 37 percent of the more than 400 people surveyed said they would spend less time in Las Vegas because of COVID-19, while 60 percent said the virus would have no impact on the duration of their stay.

“During tough times, gamblers are more likely to avoid costly trips to the Strip … or spend less,” Macquarie analyst Chad Beynon said in the report. “We believe these same people are more likely to stay local and gamble.”
Beynon anticipates Las Vegas will experience a drop in spending similar to what happened during the Great Recession.

“People were still coming, they just came with a smaller wallet, and that smaller wallet hit gaming more than anything,” Beynon told the Review-Journal. “We are still uncertain as to what the normal unemployment and economic impact will be from COVID, but we think it could negatively affect spending per visitor.”

Data from Earnest Research, a New York-based firm that tracks the credit and debit card purchases of millions of U.S. consumers, shows there was less resort-related discretionary spending in Las Vegas this summer
Residents’ and visitors’ spending on media and entertainment during the week of July 29 was down 21 percent, compared with the previous year. Travel spending was down 57 percent, and spending in restaurants was down 3 percent.