Las Vegas Re-Opened on June 4, expecting the road back to have plenty of bumps and restarts along the way caused by COVID-19. I don't know that Las Vegas expected what is happening now. A complete Las Vegas recovery to 2019 levels may not occur until 2022 or possibly 2023.
Las Vegas, once thought of as only gambling, has transformed from a gambling mecca to a world-class tourist destination. Today’s Las Vegas Strip is more about the glitzy hotels, high-end restaurants, live entertainment venues, and nightclubs that stay packed until the sun comes up. An NFL team, the Las Vegas Raiders, is supposed to play the first home game of its inaugural season on September 21 in the brand-new Allegiant Stadium.
This transformation resulted in Gaming only contributed about 35% of Las Vegas Strip total revenue and less than 30% of the big Strip Casino’s average revenue. The vast majority of revenue now comes from non-gaming, which has become the city’s primary driver. Non-gaming revenue is currently not available.
As important as the transformation of Las Vegas has been to it’s growth, it’s that very transformation that will make the recovery in Las Vegas more tenuous.
During the 2009 Recession Las Vegas lost 190,000 jobs over 2 ½ years. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in 280,000 jobs lost in just two months.
Las Vegas is heavily dependent on commercial air travel. Unfortunately air carriers are experiencing problems of their own as travelers are not interested in flying.
Las Vegas is currently surviving on drive in traffic from California and surrounding states. This could dry up if Las Vegas continues to be part of the Red Zone.
Plus, with record-high joblessness, tens of millions of Americans are relying on unemployment benefits and stimulus checks to make ends meet. Las Vegas runs on discretionary income, which is now in short supply in today’s economy.
All these things paint a bleak picture for Las Vegas resulting in a long slow recovery………..