Las Vegas’ tourism part is California, with international tourists making themselves scarce, data shows
Sin City faces a summer coma, Californians – by far the largest tourist contingent data is partly blamed.
Visits to Las Vegas in June 2025 fell 11.3% in June 2025, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Administration.
During the same period, traffic on the California-Nevada border Interstate 15 fell by 4.3%, indicating that there are fewer visitors from Golden State casinos.
The number of air travelers entering Las Vegas fell by 6.3% overall compared to the previous six months. In 2024, Californians formed more than one-fifth of air travelers entering Las Vegas, nearly half of which came from the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
A population report from the Visitor Administration estimates that Southern California provides 30% of visitors to Las Vegas in 2024.
Adding all of this, Californians may be responsible for a large portion of the decline in Las Vegas tourism.
But, as experts have previously predicted a downturn in international tourism across the country, tourism within the United States is only part of the picture. The Conference and Visitors Administration estimates that 12% of the city’s visitors are international.
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A report from the World Tourism and Tourism Commission predicts that the United States will lose $12.5 billion in international travel spending in 2025.
“When other countries launch the welcome mat, the U.S. government is proposing a ‘closed sign,” Council President Julia Simpson said in a statement.
The report cites air travel booking data for March, showing that expected travel from major tourism sources, including the UK, Germany and Canada, fell 15% to 20%.
Visitors from Canada and Mexico account for more than half of international tourists to Las Vegas in 2024, according to the Visitors Authority.
But President Trump’s talk about making Canada the 51st state and his decision to impose tariffs on Canada did not make him interested in Canadian travelers. At the same time, overseas media were bombarded by the stories of capricious denial and detention at U.S. border crossings.
Las Vegas is not alone. In May, Gov. Gavin Newsom predicted that the “Trump Depression” in international travel was partly brought by the president’s tariff regime.
Rep. Steven Horsford wrote on X last week: “Las Vegas is booming in tourism. Democrat Horsford represents Nevada’s Fourth Congressional District, which includes a part of Las Vegas.
Many of Las Vegas’ metrics, including total visitor numbers, meeting attendance and room occupancy, have not fully recovered since the pandemic began.
However, in the dollar, Sin City is still profiting even as visitors drop: Clark County collected $1.16 billion in gambling revenue in June 2025, up 3.5% from the same period last year.
In the end, the house always wins.
