LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — We've seen a downtown in Las Vegas tourism in figures supplied by Harry Reid International Airport and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
But locals are are also telling Channel 13 they're seeing fewer visitors at local businesses, sparking worries about how long the lag will last and what effects it might have.
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Zach Wilcox, who attended Gov. Joe Lombardo's campaign kickoff on Monday, said he's seen a downtown at his firearms store and gun range.
"The shop that we operate, we're near the Strip, and we can kind of see and feel the slow in tourism and things like that, so anything he's [Lombardo] willing to do to help out Southern Nevada economically I really appreciate," Wilcox said.
His store — Discount Firearms & Ammo — also features a gun range popular with tourists, but fewer people are visiting to rent weapons these days, despite the store's location near the tourist corridor.
"Because we're near the Strip, we kind of really do feel the fluctuations in the tourism, so when things are down there we really can see and feel it at the store," he said.
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For tip-earning restaurant workers like Josefina Hurtado, fewer visitors means fewer customers, and fewer tips.
Asked how the slowdown will affect her, Hurtado said, "By a lot, you know, I just don't know where I'm going to get the funds or even do what I need to do to make sure my kids have a better future than I did growing up."
A single mom with four kids she's trying to put through college, Hurtado said she worries about how long the downturn will last.
"I just hope and pray that, you know, we come out of this Trump slump that we're in, because it's real. It's definitely real, and it's a struggle," she said.
The secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union Local 226, Ted Pappageorge, said the United States is uniquely feeling the effects of international turmoil over tariffs and stepped up immigration enforcement.
"The facts are in, that we're the only country of all the ones that are being monitored that's going to have a downturn in tourism and it's going to be in the tens of billions of dollars," he said. "And that means jobs in Las Vegas, and that's a real problem. And most folks didn't vote for that. So what we want to see is some real re-focusing from this administration on the cost of living, and if they don't do it, there's going to be repercussions at the ballot box next year."
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Local officials are doing what they can to fight the slump, saying upcoming convention business will bring more people to town. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has commissioned a new ad designed to get people coming back to town. And there's a coordinated campaign to offer specials to get tourists back to town, too.
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