Despite a decline in visitation last year, Southern Nevada’s tourism industry remained the region’s dominant economic engine, generating $50.8 billion in visitor spending and supporting nearly one out of every three jobs, according to a new report presented Tuesday.
Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst with Las Vegas-based economic research firm Applied Analysis, told the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board that tourism continues to underpin the regional economy even as visitation and visitor spending softened.
“This industry generates more jobs, more wages and salaries, more economic impact output than any other industry in the state of Nevada by a very wide margin,” Aguero said Tuesday. “It generates more tax dollars at the state and local level. It generates a remarkable amount of social impact. It continues to be the heart of our economy.”
Las Vegas attracted approximately 38.5 million visitors in 2025, a 7.5 percent decrease from 2024 and a 9.4 percent decline from the 42.5 million visitors who came to the destination in 2019. Aguero acknowledged that the market experienced some softness following several years of strong growth but pushed back against suggestions that the decline signaled a broader collapse.
“Some articles would suggest there’s some apocalypse happening,” he said. “It was a decline. But again, (visitation is) not going to rise every year.”
Visitors spent $50.8 billion in Southern Nevada last year, or an average of $1,318 per person per trip, according to the report. While that was down from approximately $55.1 billion in 2024, Aguero said visitor spending remained relatively stable, helped in part by the continued strength of the convention segment and the diversity of the region’s tourism offerings. Visitor spending reached $36.9 billion in 2019, or an average of $867 per visitor per spend.
The report found tourism directly supported approximately 250,630 jobs in Southern Nevada, or one out of every five jobs in the region. When indirect and induced impacts are included, such as supplier businesses and spending by tourism workers throughout the local economy, the industry supported about 382,320 jobs, or roughly one out of every three jobs.
Tourism generated $15.2 billion in direct wages and salaries in 2025. Including ripple effects throughout the economy, the industry supported $22 billion in wages, meaning roughly three out of every $10 paid to workers in Southern Nevada were tied to tourism activity.
According to the report, $50.8 billion in direct economic output is supported by regional tourism, representing about one-quarter of Southern Nevada’s gross regional product. Including indirect and induced impacts, tourism generated an estimated $81 billion in economic output, or about 40 percent of the region’s economy.
Although Southern Nevada has diversified its economy in recent years, Aguero said the region remains uniquely dependent on tourism.
“While Nevada as a whole, and Southern Nevada specifically, have made great strides relative to economic development and diversification, something I think we should be very proud of, doesn’t mean that we are diversified,” he told the Board of Directors. “We are still more reliant on our tourism industry than any other market is dependent on any other industry of our size in the United States today.”
The Las Vegas Convention Center, which is owned and operated by the LVCVA, alone supports 14,280 jobs, generates $830 million in wages and salaries and produces approximately $3 billion in annual economic output, Aguero said.
Contact David Danzis at ddanzis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0378. Follow @AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.
