There are two sides of the coin when it comes to the number of visitors who came to Mesquite in August. You can say the 93,277 visitors is the lowest for calendar year 2015. Or, you can say the number is the highest for August in the last seven years.

Either way, the 6.5 percent increase from August last year continues the upward trend the city has seen over the last two years. There were only two months in the last 24 that the number of visitors did not show a positive increase compared to the year before. However, the slight percentage dips of -0.5 percent in March and -0.3 percent in June were miniscule.

August 2008 saw 118,555 visitors in Mesquite. But, there were also 1,000 more rooms available back then than there are now.

During the height of the recession in 2009 only 69,715 people visited Mesquite in August. That number for one of the hottest months in the summer has steadily risen with 87,602 visitors in August 2014 and now 5,675 more than that.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) August statistical report, Total Occupancy for the month came in at 68.1 percent, a 3.8 percent rise from last year. The downside is that the Average Daily Room Rate fell 2.6 percent compared to last year coming in at $51.75. Last year the rate was $53.12.

However, the Revenue Per Available Room (RevPar) increased 3.2 percent at $35.24 over last year’s $34.16 RevPar.

RevPar is calculated by taking the total revenue for the month and dividing by the number of rooms rented for the month. It measures revenue from hotel room rates only and does not include other sources of revenue like alcohol or gaming. It’s commonly used in the hospitality industry to measure the financial performance of and health among hotel operators.

Total Room Nights Occupied came in at 36,015 for a 4.1 percent increase from August 2014 when it stood at 34,584. The figure comes from the number of nights hotel rooms were occupied by paid or complimentary guests.

One of the statistics in the August report that makes gaming outlets unhappy is the decline in Gross Gaming Revenue of 1.9 percent. In August 2014, gaming came in at $8.235 million dollars. This year it fell to $8.078 million dollars. The total amount of gaming revenues year-to-date though is still in the positive numbers with an overall 2.2 percent gain compared to this time last year.

Average Daily Auto Traffic counts at the I-15 Nevada/Arizona border increased 4.7 percent from last year at 25,830 vehicles rolling down the highway every day. It’s the third highest number reported this calendar year, with only June and July coming in better.

The LVCVA report for Laughlin showed declines in seven out of nine categories. Visitor Volume declined 8.1 percent, Room inventory was down 2.5 percent, and Total Occupancy came down 1.8 percent. The Average Daily Room Rate fell 2.3 percent and RevPar dropped 5.1 percent to $31.75.

Total Room Night Occupied also followed the downward trend when it came in 5.2 percent less than last year.

The only bright spot for Laughlin was the 6.4 percent increase from August 2014 in Gross Gaming Revenues. Last year it hit $33.032 million dollars and this year gaming venues took in $35.132 million dollars.

The Average Daily Auto Traffic on Highway 163 into Laughlin rose 3.4 percent to 4,148 vehicles. Plane passengers at the Laughlin/Bullhead City airport fell 3.4 percent to 15,493 travelers.

Monthly Visitor Volume numbers in Laughlin have shown a steady decline since January 2014 with only two months since then showing miniscule improvements in year-to-year comparisons of 0.1 percent in December 2014 and 0.8 percent in January 2015.

The LVCVA reported a 0.3 percent improvement in total Gross Gaming Revenues for all of Clark County. The Las Vegas Strip showed a decrease of 4.7 percent but a whopping 15 percent increase for the Downtown area and an incredible 29.7 percent increase for the Boulder Strip.

Total Las Vegas Visitor Volumes in August increased 1.6 percent to 3.6 million people. Average Daily Auto Traffic on all major highways in the Las Vegas metropolitan area increased 5.7 percent with a 2.2 percent increase on I-15 at the Nevada California border.