An Empty Strip and Fewer Tips: is Las Vegas in Trouble?

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An Empty Strip And Fewer Tips: Is Las Vegas In Trouble?:

Gloria Valdez has made a living as a hostess at a steakhouse at the D Casino in downtown Las Vegas for 15 years, surviving through the economic crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. But she says she's never seen business this bad.

"The pandemic was something that was worldwide, and we had the hope that everything would get better," says the 38-year-old single mother of two. "We're not sure if and when this is gonna stop."

Las Vegas-the city infamous for wedding chapels, 24/7 casinos, and live entertainment-is experiencing a slump in visitors. The destination hosted some 3.1 million tourists in June-marking an 11.3% decline compared to the same month last year, according to a report by the Las Vegas Convention Center. International visitors were down by some 13% in the same month and hotel occupancy is down nearly 15%.

The numbers are catching up to a story being told by locals and visitors for several months now, of an eerily empty Vegas Strip and deserted casino floors.

Who and what is to blame for the slump is a matter of fierce debate. Some blame rising prices, others have attributed Vegas's fall to the rise of other vacation destinations like Nashville, while the Las Vegas Convention Center Authority attributed the downturn to "economic uncertainty and weaker consumer confidence."

Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union, calls it the "Trump slump."

"If you tell the whole world that they're not welcome, they're not going to come," says Pappageorge. "The lifeblood for Las Vegas is Southern California. What folks are telling our members is that the raids and crazy tariffs and this uncertainty, [are causing] people to pull back."

Data indicates that one in five [PDF] tourists who came to Vegas in 2024 traveled from California. Just under one in four workers in the state of Nevada as a whole are immigrants. And while there have been reports of Las Vegas workers who are fearful of being impacted by the ICE raids-which have mounted in recent months due to Trump's mass deportation plan- visitors may feel at risk, too.

Whatever the cause, the impact is clear to anyone who lives and works in Vegas. Valdez, a 25-year Vegas resident, sees it in the dwindling number of tourists arriving at her restaurant for a bite to eat. "We barely have reservations at the steakhouse," she says. "Sometimes we have 10-20 at most."

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