Impact of Covid19 on Las Vegas' Tourism Industry in 2020.

​Executive Summary
The COVID 19 pandemic left an indelible imprint on the Southern Nevada tourism industry and the broader regional economy Compared to recent recessions, the COVID 19 recession’s magnitude was unprecedented in its depth and speed Applied Analysis was retained by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (the LVCVA) to review and analyze the economic impacts of the pandemic on Southern Nevada’s tourism industry in 2020.
This brief examines the effects on visitation, employment and other key metrics as well as the overall decline in the tourism industry’s economic impact due to the pandemic and related response While the economic losses in 2020 were material, it is worth noting that many of the economic conditions and shortfalls have persisted into early 2021.

• The global travel industry collapsed in the early months of the pandemic and slowly recovered over the year. In Southern Nevada, travel restrictions, resort closings and other pandemic related responses led to a 55 percent drop in visitor volume to 19 0 million, the lowest annual total since 1989. Convention attendance also fell to its lowest level in 21 years as conventions, trade shows and business meetings were canceled through most of the year.
• Southern Nevada’s economy is more dependent on tourism than most other domestic tourism destinations. Among major destinations in the U S the Las Vegas metropolitan area in 2019 had the highest share of employment sourced to the tourism industry at 28.6%. The region’s reliance on tourism made it particularly susceptible to the pandemic and its impacts on travel, conventions, business meetings and other activities that involve large gatherings. Unemployment in the region spiked to 33.3% in April 2020 and averaged a record 14.7% in 2020.
• The economic impacts of Southern Nevada’s tourism industry are driven by visitor spending on rooms, dining, shopping, local transportation and other activities and amenities during their stays. That spending directly supports jobs, wages and economic activity, and it ripples through the economy to generate additional impacts via suppliers and vendors (indirect impacts) and by employee spending on goods and services in the community (induced impacts). The fall in visitation translated to a drop in visitor spending from $36.9 billion in 2019 to $17.6 billion in 2020 a 52.2% decline. That negative impact was concentrated in the period from mid-March through the end of the year. When evaluated through that timeframe, the year-to-year impact on visitor spending grows to a 66.5% drop.
• In 2019 the total economic output related to visitor spending reached $63.6 billion, about half of the region’s gross economic output In 2020. With fewer visitors and less overall visitor spending, the economic impact of the tourism industry dropped by more than half to $29.6 billion.
• The Southern Nevada tourism industry directly employed an estimated 242,500 workers in 2019 and when the ripple effects of visitor spending were included, the tourism industry supported 376,800 jobs. In 2020 direct tourism related employment fell 32.5% to 163,800 and total employment with indirect and induced effects fell by 125,600 to 251,200 jobs, a 33.3% decline. When comparing only the pandemic timeframe, that impact rises to a 44.5% drop in employment.
• As the largest regional employer, Southern Nevada’s tourism industry generates a significant share of worker wages and salaries In 2019 the industry supported $11.0 billion in direct wages, accounting for 21.5% of all wages in the region. The additional indirect and induced impacts supported wages for workers across many sectors of the economy, with a total wage impact of $17.1 billion in 2019. Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, wages paid directly to tourism industry workers fell by $3.3 billion to $7.7 billion, and total wages including secondary ripple effects declined by $5.4 billion to $11.6 billion.

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