this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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11% down from 2024 is not "empty."
Sorry, decimated would be more appropriate then.
A bit more than decimated, technically speaking.
We decimated the decimation!
Ackshually that would be 1%, as 10% of 10% is 1%.
I used to work in tourism.
It really matters which 11% are we talking about. The relatively little people attending conferences on a company dime that won't exit their hotels and will spend exactly as budgeted are probs still there. The richer touristy people who can choose where to spend and are happy to spend on random bullshit going elsewhere hurts more. This is conjecture of course.
I've personally seen - in an unrelated place - tourist crowds getting bigger, hotel revenues getting slightly bigger, but everyone else in the industry like restaurants, activity places and souvenir shops, stagnating and closing as the bigger crowds were because the festivalgoers and young single people were switched out for families who pack their own lunch and primarily only sightsee and do what's free.
Look at Venice, insane crowds from cruise ships mean zero income for the city and its inhabitants because those people eat and sleep on the ship.
It really matters which 11% is missing. If you want to know how it affects tourism, you need data from that industry, data I think the Trump admin will be reluctant to collect.
I don't work in tourism, but I would have thought business travellers were among the more sought-after guests. Since they're not paying with their own money, they don't put much effort into bargain hunting. They're not high rollers, but they'll probably at least spend as much as their company allows.
OTOH, someone travelling on a personal vacation will probably be watching their pennies. They don't have an expense account.
I know that business travellers are the most sought-after clients for airlines. They're not in first class, but first class bookings are fickle. Business customers are reliable. They book last minute flights and pay whatever that requires.
Flights and hotels are different this way than other establishments, as they are "essential" for visitors, you don't buy them on the spot and you can't really get to a destination without transportation and a place to stay. From a different perspective, they are privileged, since for them only first class is fickle. For everyone else, all customers are.
So if you work for eg. a place that rents out jet-skis on the shore, you won't see a lot of suits, because they don't have time. And to be honest, most likely only around 10% of visitors will actually be your customers. Now if those customers are overrepresented in that missing 11%, you may have just halved your turnover, which means you'll need to close up shop.
go lose 11% of your monthly income and come back and let us know how that works out for you
Bro it's 2025. We've all lost at least 11% of our income/spending power post Covid
Imagine 11% more on top of that.
11% down is devastating. Why downplay it?
'empty'
'no one wants to come'
I'm sure 11% is a significant drop in any industry, but they weren't downplaying it, just correcting an exaggeration
COVID was devastating. The strip saw their income fall 50%.
11% is bad but not "Ghost Town"
There was clearly a modifier in front of the word "empty." There is a huge difference between saying, "empty" and "how empty." Perhaps you have some sort of agenda that kept you from realizing that.