More Visitors Than Ever Playing in Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Thanks in part to the opening of four new Strip hotels last year, the number of visitors coming to Las Vegas is expected to hit 36.7 million this year, compared with 1999’s record 33.8 million visitors, officials said last week.

Automobile traffic from Southern California alone increased 8.7%, to 2.3 million vehicles, during the first five months of this year compared with the same period in 1999, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“We’re feeding off the excitement of last year’s resort openings,” said Richelle Thompson, spokeswoman for the tourism agency.

Room inventory has increased by 5.3% from last year, to 121,066 rooms, due mostly to the opening of Mandalay Bay, Four Seasons, the Venetian and Paris Las Vegas. But it has not kept pace with the 8.3% increase in visitors projected to come this year. The room occupancy rate in Las Vegas is about 90%, and hotels are charging more this year than last year, especially midweek.

Contributing to the increases in visitors are new international flights at McCarran International Airport. Virgin Atlantic Airways inaugurated twice-weekly, nonstop service between London and Las Vegas in June, when it delivered about 2,500 passengers here.