Las Vegas is holding a massive cyber sale this week, with deals of up to 55% off stays at well-known Strip hotels in a last-ditch year-end effort to salvage a disappointing tourism year marred by economic uncertainty in the United States and a decline in Canadian travelers.
Key data
The Las Vegas Visitors Bureau is holding a cyber sale through December 5, with hotels discounted up to 55% and travel dates extending through October 2026.
Many hotel promotions include dining and resort credits, waived parking fees or other benefits, and the sale also includes entertainment deals (from Cirque de Soleil shows to helicopter tours) at up to 40% off.
Las Vegas is in the midst of a year-long tourism crisis, according to key industry indicators: visitation (down 8% year over year), revenue per available room (-9%), average daily room rate (-5%), and hotel occupancy (-3%), according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).
Las Vegas room tax and gaming fee revenue decreased 14%, or $12.3 million, in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared to the same quarter last year, according to the LVCVA’s most recent quarterly budget report.
How has low consumer confidence affected Las Vegas tourism in 2025?
Tourism is driven by discretionary spending, which slows when consumer confidence falls. U.S. credit card data began revealing a notable decline in travel spending as early as February, shortly after President Donald Trump announced his intention to impose widespread tariffs. That decline has deepened throughout the year, and recent data shows that even wealthy Americans are cutting back on their holiday travel plans. Last week, the consumer confidence index fell to its lowest level since April, when fears about the Trump administration’s tariffs caused confidence to drop sharply. “People want to travel,” Kayak CEO Steve Hafner said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday morning. “But in uncertain economic times like we’re having now, (travel) is a discretionary good, right? It’s not a consumer commodity.” Consequently, Las Vegas has seen a drop in visitors as would-be travelers “make the decision to postpone discretionary items,” Steve Hill, executive director of the LVCVA, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month.
How have Canadian tourists made Las Vegas’ tourism problems worse in 2025?
The United States has seen a sharp decline in the number of Canadian visitors this year, with double-digit year-on-year drops between April and September, typically the busiest tourist months. This drop in the number of Canadian tourists has impacted the decline in tourism in Las Vegas, where 1.4 million Canadians visited last year, making up the largest source of international visitors. The drop in Canadian tourists alone could cost the Las Vegas economy more than $4 billion, local ABC news reported in April, after Trump stepped up his tariff announcement. In August, the LVCVA sent a delegation to Vancouver to attract travelers again. “Some of our friends in Canada are not happy with us right now,” Hill told reporters in September. “We want them to come back, but we understand that they may not be ready for it.”
What we don’t know
Whether the virtual sale of Las Vegas can help stem the city’s loss of tourism revenue. The city’s hotels have launched other offerings this year; The virtual sale follows a wave of summer promotions and a five-day destination-wide sale held in September.
This article was originally published by Forbes US.
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