Las Vegas was back to pre-Covid tourism numbers in March, largely thanks to two Taylor Swift concerts at Allegiant Stadium. In addition, Las Vegas hosted college basketball games and several conferences during the month of March.
I Think She Did It: According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, more than 3.6 million people visited the city in March, up more than 9% from the year before. While Vegas’s numbers are up year over year, the March tourism numbers were still slightly below what they were in 2019, according to Bloomberg.
Swift’s concerts have been extraordinarily popular, causing Ticketmaster’s site to crash during the ticket release. The venue of her concerts, Allegiant Stadium, is the home to the Las Vegas Raiders and sits 65,000 people. Swift sold out the stadium for two nights in a row. She also announced at the concert that she was the first woman to ever headline Allegiant Stadium, which opened in 2020 ahead of the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas from Oakland.
Tourism and travel have remained relatively strong, despite recession worries. If travel spending does start to decrease, it could be an indication that people have less expendable income and might signal a slowdown in the overall economy.
MGM Resorts International MGM reported earnings Monday, beating expectations in terms of revenue and earnings per share. Despite this, the stock traded down slightly on Tuesday, at about $45 a share.
But hey, if your city is hosting a Taylor Swift concert this summer, at least you know it should bring some extra tourism and dollars to the city. Just remember to plan for extra traffic.
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