Sarah Feldberg
It's 104 degrees in Las Vegas, and the AC is on full arctic blast. Conventional wisdom would have that the dark heart of summer is not the best time to visit the Nevada desert, but thanks to a full calendar of trade shows and special events, traffic to Las Vegas stays hot throughout the sweltering season.
In June, the last month for which data was available, nearly 3.6 million people visited Las Vegas, with citywide guestroom occupancy at 92.6%, second only to March so far this year. This year's Electric Daisy Carnival dance-music festival held, June 15 to 17 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, drew an estimated attendance of 400,000 over the course of three nights.
In July, athletes descended on the city for a handful of sporting events, which kicked off July 3 to 8 with the 2017 USA Table Tennis National Championships. Next up, the NBA returned to Las Vegas for its fifth annual Summer League in the city, with 24 teams playing 67 games, which reportedly drew a record 127,843 fans to the Thomas & Mack Center at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Finally, skaters and fans hit the Westgate Las Vegas from July 26 to 30 for RollerCon 2017, which describes itself as the "bastard daughter of dozens of [roller derby] leagues across this country." The event packed its schedule with bouts, seminars and spinoff events, including the Derby Wedding and Black n Blue Ball (aka derby prom).
In 2016, July boasted the calendar year's highest visitation numbers and occupancy rates, with more than 3.8 million visitors descending on the desert. In 2015, the month was similarly strong, though both May and October recorded more arrivals.
While the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority hasn't released its data for July 2017 yet, the summer has already seen its share of important trade shows, including Cosmoprof which reportedly drew a record-breaking crowd of 36,787 attendees to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in July for the B2B beauty trade show.
Other recent shows include the retail merchandise industry's ASD MarketWeek (July 30 to Aug. 2), expected to bring 44,000 people to Las Vegas and result in $51.7 million in direct visitor spending, and Las Vegas Market, which pulls approximately 50,000 people for the home decor and furniture show at World Market Center and creates $58.7 million in economic impact.
Finally, one of summer's most important trade shows is still on the horizon: the fashion world's Magic Marketplace, which will return to the Las Vegas Convention Center and Mandalay Bay from Aug. 14 to 16. The summer market is expected to bring with it 85,000 industry attendees and $99.8 million in visitor spending. Off season? What off season?