More than 42.5 million people visited Las Vegas in 2019, an increase of about 1% from 2018 but short of 2016's record 42.9 million, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) reported.
A record 6.6 million visited specifically to attend a convention, an increase of more than 2% from the previous year, the LVCVA reported.
It was the busiest December for conventions ever recorded, with 356,100 convention attendees, a 60.6% increase over December 2018.
Among the reasons: Amazon Web Services (65,000 participants) and the Marijuana Business Conference (35,000) both moved from November to December. It was also Vegas' turn in a rotation of cities to host the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (20,000).
Citywide hotel room occupancy was 88.9% for the year, a 0.7% increase from 2018. The average daily room rate was $132.62, a 2.9% increase from 2018.
Although most visitors stayed in one of the almost 150,000 rooms in Las Vegas, Airbnb stays in Clark County increased by 19% last year from 2018, even though residential short-term rentals are illegal in much of the valley.
There were 882,000 Airbnb guests in Clark County in 2019, according to the company. Airbnb hosts in Clark County collected more than $138 million last year, up from about $100 million in 2018, the company said.
The most profitable weekend of the year for hosts was May 17 to 19, when the Electric Daisy Carnival was underway at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That weekend generated $5.7 million in income for hosts.