Thanks to Donald Trump’s failing economic policies and erratic trade war, fewer people are visiting Las Vegas, with room tax receipts for the three months ending September 30 being down $12.3 million, or 14%, from the same period a year ago. As a result, Las Vegas’ tourism budget report shows “mounting strain” with an $11.7 million deficit in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year. Yet, Joe Lombardo refuses to stand up to Trump’s cost-raising trade policies and even said Nevadans “feel a little pain” from Trump’s tariffs.
While Lombardo embraces Trump’s endorsement, Las Vegas tourism plunged 8.8% in September with nearly 2.5 million fewer tourists and “deep losses” in international travelers — the ninth month in a row of declines this year.
Although Trump and Lombardo promised to lower costs, consumer sentiment fell for the fourth straight month and sank to its second-lowest level on record. Despite Lombardo making unemployment central to his 2022 campaign, Nevada’s unemployment rate is still worse than when Lombardo took office in 2023.
Read more below:
Las Vegas Sun: Las Vegas tourism budget report shows mounting strain from visitor declines
Key points:
- Signs of strain are saturating Las Vegas’ tourism economy — fewer visitors, softer hotel rates, shrinking tax collections. Today, the Convention and Visitors Authority board will confront just how much those pressures have eroded its bottom line when the tourism agency presents its quarterly budget report showing an $11.7 million deficit in the first quarter of its 2026 fiscal year.
- With fewer people visiting Las Vegas, room tax receipts for the three months ending Sept. 30 were $73.9 million, down $12.3 million, or 14%, from the same period a year ago, according to the report.
- The last opening quarter lower than that for the LVCVA was in the fall of 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when room tax collections registered just $67.1 million.
- From January through September, Las Vegas welcomed 2.5 million fewer guests than during the same period last year, with especially deep losses among international travelers. September statistics from Harry Reid International Airport underscored the decline, showing a 6.4% year-over-year drop in total passengers and a 13.5% slide in international arrivals.
- Democrats representing Southern Nevada in Congress have dubbed the decline in visitors the “Trump Slump,” attributing it to the policies and tariffs instituted by President Donald Trump.
- U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., responded to the latest tourism numbers by saying on social media earlier this month that “Nevada’s economy can’t afford this decline in jobs and visitors.”
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