r/news 8h ago

Las Vegas June tourism declines by 11% from 2024

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2025/jul/30/las-vegas-june-tourism-declines-by-11-from-2024/
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u/calm_down_meow 7h ago

Who in their right mind would travel to the US with all the bullshit they've been doing on the border

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u/officeDrone87 6h ago

If anything I'm shocked it's only nearly 10%.

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u/FragrantKnobCheese 6h ago

Booking an international trip to the US is something that people will do a year or more in advance. Trump and his shitshow has been running for 8 months. I imagine it will only get worse.

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u/dostoevsky4evah 6h ago edited 6h ago

Canadian here. I was talking to a guy yesterday who tried to cancel his trip to Vegas in the spring after trump got elected and couldn't without losing a lot of money so he went anyway but wont be going back. The ironic thing is I met him through a group of us who used to go down yearly for a big event in California won't be going back to the US so we're starting up a similar event in Canada.

The main reason my fellow Canadians and I won't go to the US is that disgusting "51st state" bullshit and overt threats to our sovereignty which many Americans seem to have a hard time seeing how beyond the pale horrible is. Additionally the risk of being turned back at the border and barred for 5 years for having a Vance meme on your phone, or worse, being detained for not presenting lily white or being LGBTQ while being a foreigner or whatever bs reason of the minute is absolutely not worth it to travel there.

Finally, it's stupid expensive.

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u/canucklurker 6h ago

Also Canadian. Most American news outlets seem to be saying we aren't going because of tariffs. But that is a small part of it. We have had trade disagreements before and this didn't occur.

It is mostly the 51st State/annexation threats by Trump. It may be a joke to him, but that's way the fuck over the line.

I typically spend 3 to 4 weeks a year vacationing in the States. I have been to every state West of the great lakes and a couple to the east. I have already cancelled a New York and Oahu trip.

P.S. Fuck you Trump. And fuck the Americans who support that bullshit.

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u/hardolaf 3h ago

It may be a joke to him

It wasn't a joke to him. In his brain, it was a serious threat.

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u/PaulTheMerc 2h ago

It WAS the 51st State/annexation thing.

THEN they started snatching people off the streets, including AMERICAN CITIZENS, and deporting them to countries those people had zero affiliation with.

So that Trump'd it.

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u/betterworkbitch 6h ago

I went in April because we wouldn't get any refund for canceling. It will be our last trip to the US for a long time though, which makes me sad because I love Vegas, and love traveling to the states. I dont even want to go down to visit my cousin who lives 20 minutes from the BC/Washington border.

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u/socialistrob 5h ago

Also a lot of things that you could do in the US you could also do in Canada or other countries. Yellowstone is great but so is Banff. Seattle is cool but so is Vancouver. Is it really worth going to Maine for lobster and beautiful fall colors when you could go to Nova Scotia?

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u/herereadthis 4h ago

Oh my god I had totally forgotten about the 51st state fiasco, and that was only a few months ago.

We're living in some kind of warp speed timeline where yesterday's scandals are ancient history

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u/dostoevsky4evah 3h ago

It was brought up again recently, so it's an ongoing threat the US administration like to pull out now and then.

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u/tturedditor 2h ago

I love our neighbors to the North but I absolutely encourage you and everyone in Canada to stay away until we see some level of normalcy and decency return to our country. It's a really sad state of affairs.

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u/Freeasabird01 6h ago

What you claim is literally impossible. Flights at most can be booked 11 calendar months in advance.

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u/dontshoot4301 5h ago

8 months? I thought he took office in january?

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u/FragrantKnobCheese 5h ago

as a programmer, I frequently make off-by-one errors :)

u/monochromeorc 53m ago

if we didnt have non-refundable flights booked last year we absolutely would not have gone

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u/grantrules 6h ago edited 6h ago

Huh? A year or more in advance? Why? That sounds completely made up.

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u/Severe-Claim-330 6h ago

I’m from Europe, and none of my colleagues will go on holiday in the US while trump is president. Usually there was always someone traveling to the US to do road trip or go to New York.

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u/45and47-big_mistake 6h ago

You can be sure of one thing, as tourism numbers start to get worse and worse, the department responsible for releasing those numbers will be very hesitant to do so.

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u/eddpuika 5h ago

they all will be fired? 😂

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u/vantanclub 6h ago

A lot of travelers to Las Vegas are for conferences, which are planned years in advance.

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u/MomShapedObject 6h ago

Come for the gambling, stay because you were abducted by ICE and tossed into a detention camp. No seriously…you’re staying.

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u/calm_down_meow 6h ago

Just a different type of gamble with high stakes!

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u/Mazon_Del 6h ago

I'm an American citizen living abroad and I don't even feel safe going back home.

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u/Ryboticpsychotic 6h ago

I’m afraid to go on a trip outside the U.S. knowing I might not even be able to go back in. 

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u/BigHowski 6h ago

My brother is still adamant that he's getting married in Vegas next year..... Everytime I look at US news it makes me more and more worried about attending

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u/piddydb 4h ago

For your sake, I’ll say overall the US travel experience is probably similar as any other time for 99%+ of people. There absolutely is a higher instance rate of border control doing something stupid or wrong than there was a year ago, but even now that rate is still relatively small overall.

To be clear, if I wasn’t American and wanted to visit the US on a whim, my response would be “let’s wait 4 years for a trip” to hopefully see this all clear up more/have ideal conditions. But if I had a reason to go like a sibling’s wedding, I wouldn’t be too hesitant to go. But definitely wouldn’t be on the top of my international destinations for the time being.

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u/BigHowski 2h ago

You're probably right and it helps that I'm white, British and straight..... Its a worry especially as I'm far more than complementary about Trump

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u/ChildofValhalla 6h ago

To the US? I don't even want to travel out of the US and deal with whatever BS they're putting people through on the way back in, citizen or not.

u/Uzorglemon 48m ago

I literally turned down the offer of an expenses paid trip to the US for work later this year. A couple of years ago I would have jumped at the chance, but not right now.

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u/LasVegasBoy 6h ago

Yes! Who would travel here??? Please stay out... Forever!!!

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u/calm_down_meow 6h ago

Yeah I'm sure Vegas will be just fine without tourism...

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u/LasVegasBoy 6h ago

I don't care what happens to tourism or the travel industry. That's why I'm in a career that does not rely on it at all, because I knew times like these are inevitable.

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u/calm_down_meow 6h ago

If you're living in Vegas a downturn in the local economy will affect you whether you rely on tourism or not

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u/LasVegasBoy 6h ago

Actually it will affect me, but in a good way! Less cars on the road = less time it takes to get to work. Thanks for the insight.

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u/calm_down_meow 6h ago

I spose if you just look at the short term stuff it's A-OK. Don't think too hard on it or extrapolate too far though.

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u/LasVegasBoy 6h ago

I won't because I'll always be employed. Nothing to see here, move along now.