Las Vegas is in serious trouble. The city that once drew millions of hardworking Americans for fun and entertainment is now watching tourists stay away in droves. June 2025 saw a massive 11.3% drop in visitors compared to last year. Only 3.1 million people bothered to make the trip to Sin City.
The numbers tell a scary story for Nevada workers. Interstate 15 traffic from California dropped over 4%. Air travel into Vegas fell by more than 6%. Hotel rooms are sitting empty with occupancy down 6.5% across the board.
Regular American families simply cannot afford Vegas anymore. Hotel rates may have dropped slightly to $163 per night, but that is still too much for most working people. Add in resort fees, parking charges, and overpriced food, and a Vegas trip becomes a luxury only the wealthy can enjoy. This is what happens when businesses get greedy and forget about their core customers.
Social media is filled with photos of empty casinos. Local families report that people are getting laid off left and right. One person posted that the casinos look like ghost towns. These are real jobs and real families being hurt by this tourism collapse.
California has always been Vegas’s biggest source of visitors. Southern California alone provides 30% of all tourists to the city. But even Californians are staying home now because everything costs too much. When your biggest customer base cannot afford to visit, you have a serious problem.
International visitors are also staying away in record numbers. The World Travel and Tourism Council says America will lose over 12 billion dollars in international travel spending this year. Border complications and visa delays are making it harder for foreign tourists to visit our country.
Convention business has dried up too. These big business meetings and trade shows bring serious money to Vegas. But companies are cutting back on travel budgets and expensive conventions. Without convention dollars flowing in, the whole Vegas economy suffers.
The casino bosses are trying to spin this disaster as normal. They claim 2024 was a record year so this drop is no big deal. But working Americans know better. When families cannot afford a simple weekend getaway to Vegas, something is very wrong with our economy.
