LAS VEGAS — The city that once lured budget-conscious tourists with cheap hotel rooms and subsidized buffets has undergone a fundamental economic shift, with luxury amenities and high-priced events displacing the bargain vacation model that defined Las Vegas for decades.
The share of Las Vegas visitors from households earning six figures reached 75% in 2025, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, up from 28% in 2019. The shift reflects a broader national pattern in which high-income households have increased their spending while middle- and lower-income travelers have pulled back.
MSI previously reported that the Las Vegas Strip saw visitor declines in 2025 even as the local economy and airport traffic remained steady. That report documented the early signs of the demographic rotation now reshaping the city’s tourism economy.
Total visitors fell 7.5% in 2025, according to the visitors authority, largely because of declines in lower-income visitors and travelers from Canada. Steve Hill, the organization’s president and CEO, attributed the drop to gloomy consumer sentiment. “Discretionary purchases are going to take a back seat, and Vegas is a very discretionary decision,” Hill said.
The transformation has been most visible in the gulf between the city’s high-end and budget properties. At the Wynn Resorts, where the average daily rate in Las Vegas is $592, a measure of profit per hotel room rose to $190 per room in 2025 from $87 in 2019. Executives told investors on recent earnings calls that the company can earn more by charging fewer customers higher rates, and they cited a boost from visitors who have made money from the artificial-intelligence boom.
“There’s not that much resistance to price at this point,” Brian Gullbrants, chief operating officer for North America, said on a May earnings call.
At the lower end of the market, the Plaza Hotel and Casino downtown, where rooms average $110 a night including a resort fee, has seen visitor numbers decline about 3% this year. Jonathan Jossel, the hotel’s CEO, said the travelers who are not showing up include international visitors and regional drive-in traffic.
“That’s someone sitting in California or Arizona saying ‘Let’s drive to Vegas for the weekend.’ We’re not seeing that like we used to,” Jossel said.
Gambling accounted for about 26% of Las Vegas revenue in 2025, according to Chad Beynon, a gaming industry analyst at Macquarie. The figure marks a significant decline from the era when the city used cheap rooms and meals as loss leaders to fill casinos. Statewide baccarat revenue, a game popular with wealthy patrons, doubled over the past year, while slot-machine revenue rose 5.5%.
The city’s entertainment landscape has shifted to match its wealthier clientele. The Sphere, a high-tech immersive venue that opened in 2023, became the highest-grossing arena in the world after hosting acts including U2 and Phish. The Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, which debuted the same year, offered tickets ranging from $50 to more than $27,000.
Marc Badain, who oversaw construction of Allegiant Stadium and is now president of the Athletics — the Major League Baseball team building a new ballpark on the Strip scheduled for 2028 — said about 22% of seats in the new stadium will have access to premium areas.
Some travelers have been priced out entirely. Ed Schaplow, who owns three small businesses including a fruit farm in Chelan, Washington, said he and his wife could once put together a five-night trip including flights, meals and multiple shows for under $1,000. After their 2023 visit to the budget Circus Circus hotel, where they were surprised by the $45-per-night resort fee, the couple looked into returning last fall but were deterred by airfare and hotel costs.
“We just wrote it off as it’s not worth it,” Schaplow said.
Some properties are trying to widen their appeal. MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle said last year “shame on us” after the uproar over a $26 bottle of water from the Aria minibar. Lower-end Strip properties are rolling out all-inclusive packages. Even five-star hotels can be found for under $150 a night on summer weekdays — not including resort fees — for visitors willing to endure temperatures above 100 degrees.
But the factors keeping budget travelers away continue to accumulate. Higher gas prices make regional road trips more expensive. The collapse of Spirit Airlines earlier this year eliminated many of the cheapest flights to Las Vegas.
Caesars Entertainment recently remodeled two palatial presidential suites and 29 “sky villas” starting at $1,500 a night for a one-bedroom. The company toned down the Las Vegas kitsch in the decor, according to Sean McBurney, Caesars’ chief commercial officer and Las Vegas regional president.
“A little Greek key is OK. But you don’t need a Roman warrior in the corner,” McBurney joked. Statues remain common in the hotel’s public areas.