October has traditionally been the best month of the last half of the year for visitor numbers in Mesquite. This year is even better as the numbers show in the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority latest report.
Some of the statistics in the October report, both good and bad, can be attributed to the soft opening of the Rising Star Sports Ranch resort on Oct. 1.
Visitor volumes rose 12.9 percent to 131,023 in October compared to last year’s 116,014. Of all the jurisdictions in Clark County reported on by the monthly LVCVA report, Mesquite was the only area that reported a positive increase in visitor counts on a year-to-year comparison. Las Vegas was down -0.6 percent even though the “month still ranked as the destination’s third busiest on record” according to the LVCVA report. Laughlin saw a -0.7 percent drop in their visitor numbers.
Room inventory numbers that usually stay steady rose 11.7 percent to 1,905 all due to the addition of 200 rooms at the Rising Star. However, that addition affected other numbers in the report.
Total occupancy rates fell -3.9 percent to 80.8 percent from last year’s 84.7 percent. That’s still the highest occupancy rate since June.
The average daily room rate at all hotels in Mesquite stayed steady from a year ago at $62.11 while revenue per available room dropped -4.6 percent to $50.18 from last year’s $52.62. Total room nights occupied rose 6.5 percent to 47,716.
Gross gaming revenues in Mesquite rose a healthy 6.1 percent in October hitting $10.636 million.
Average daily auto traffic on the I-15 Nevada Arizona border jumped 8.6 percent to 26,805 vehicles every day rolling through Mesquite.
Most of the numbers for Mesquite’s sister city on the river, Laughlin, were in the positive range. Total occupancy increased one percent to 62.7 percent. While the average daily room rate fell -0.7 percent to $42.93, the RevPAR increased 0.9 percent to $26.92. Total room nights occupied also increased 0.6 percent.
Laughlin’s gross gaming revenues rose 3.8 percent to $40.982 million.
Airplane passengers in Laughlin decreased -2.8 percent while the average daily auto traffic on Highway 163 increased 7.7 percent to 4,464 vehicles.
The average daily auto traffic on all major highways leading into Las Vegas increased 7.1 percent while the daily traffic counts on I-15 at the Nevada California border rose 3.5 percent to 41,397.
Gaming revenues in all of Clark Count increased in October by 13.4 percent compared to October 2015. The LVCVA attributed the rise to “increased slot play and table games hold.” Gaming revenues on the Las Vegas Strip increased 14 percent while Downtown Vegas jumped 29.5 percent and the Boulder Strip increased 23.7 percent.
