But the real story is how gaming revenue fell off a cliff in October. For Clark County as a whole, gaming revenue was down 25.3% from October of 2007. That is a fall from just over $1 billion last year to $757 million this year – a staggering fall.Other numbers released in the October Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority report are just as grim. Total airline passengers are down 12.8%, hotel occupancy levels are down 8.5%, average room rate down 14.3%, auto traffic down 6.3%. Does anyone see light at the end of the tunnel? 

Most of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s numbers were still heading in the wrong direction in July. The only positive number in this month’s report was a small increase in convention goers (up 0.6 percent) and total number of conventions held (up 8.9 percent). Sadly the economic impact from these increases was actually 3.7 percent lower than July of last year.

Gaming revenue was especially hard hit, falling 15 percent for Clark County as a whole.

The average daily room rate in Las Vegas fell 10 percent to $105.97. The year to date average fell 6.6 percent to $126.51.

(All figures are year over year comparisons)

It seems that the Strip, while not completely immune, is doing its best to weather the current economic downturn, according the a report released today by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.  Impacting the numbers was a decrease in the number of rooms available to fill, due in part to the closing of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino. Overall, Las Vegas January visitor volume fell by 0.6-percent. This modest decrease came despite the fact that convention attendance was down over 100,000 people, or -13.1 percent.

Gaming revenue on the strip was down by about $8 million, and was down 4.1-percent for Clark County as a whole. The county-wide visitor numbers were dragged down by softness in Boulder City, Laughlin and Mesquite. However, there was one bright spot for casino operators in Mesquite, as although visitor volume wasd down 5.4 percent, those who did make the trip appeared to spend more per-capita. The city’s gross gaming revenue rose 25.9-percent to just over $13 million.

The number of people visiting Las Vegas decreased by an estimated 432 people from October 2006 to the same month this year, according to the latest statistics released by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. For the year as a whole, visitor volume has increased by about 0.8 percent.

The good news is that the people that did come to Las Vegas spent more, on average, during their stay. Gaming revenue in October was up a healthy 12.5 percent in Clark County, totaling over $1 billion for the month. That number pushed the yearly total to almost $9.1 billion, a 4.1 percent increase over 2006.

These numbers come in spite of the fact that convention attendance is down substantially this year over last. The number of conventions held in Las Vegas fill by 13 percent to 2,623, resulting in attendance numbers dropping by 21.2 percent.

The complete report, including numbers for Laughlin and Mesquite, can be found on the LVCCA’s website.