Las Vegas used to be for everyone. Now it’s for suckers.

Bagel and coffee at the Fontainebleau hotel? $33. Buffet at the Wynn? $75. Valet-parking at the Bellagio? $40/day. Tourists are fed up with inflation hitting Las Vegas and are voting with their wallets. I’m one of them…

Tourists Flee Las Vegas Due To Absurdly High Prices…Count Me In

An alarming stat for Las Vegas: visitor numbers have dropped every month this year when compared with 2024, (this according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority). So far in 2025, visitors are down 6.5% compared to 2024. Airport traffic and gaming revenue are also down. At Harry Reid International Airport:

• International arrivals were down 8.7% in May compared with the same month last year
• Total passenger numbers in May dropped 3.9% compared ot May 2024
• Overall air traffic is down 3.7% in 2025 compared to 2024

And can you blame folks for traveling elsewhere? Who wants to pay $26 bottle of water from a hotel minibar (at the Aria) or $25 for dinnerware with room service (at the MGM) or $60 to check-in three hours early (at the Flamingo)?

It’s too much…it’s simply not worthwhile whether you have money or not.

I understand that not everyone has time for an international trip over a weekend and Las Vegas provides a concentrated area for nice hotels, shows, and gaming. But as I think about where to take my own family, the answer on weekend getaways, my answer is certainly not Las Vegas.

Like shopping for groceries at Erewhon, even if I could afford it, I wouldn’t want it. Who wants to waste so much money on things like parking and meals when, at least for me in Southern California, there are so many better and cheaper options? And who wants to deal with scalding heat during the day and pesky crowds at night?

It’s no surprise that resorts and casinos want to attract more affluent people, but those people tend to have choices when they travel and can only be pushed so far. $25 cocktails and $200 steaks in Las Vegas? That’s madness.

CONCLUSION

I used to love going to Las Vegas growing up. Cheap steaks. Cheap buffets. Cheap hotels. It was the sort of place where, if you could deal with the cigarette smoke, you could enjoy some really good deals. That’s simply not the Las Vegas of 2024 and perhaps there were too many travelers like me who took advantage of the cheap amenities but did not gamble. But the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction.

These numbers have to represent warning signs for Sin City…people are voting with their wallets and the nickel and diming has gone too far. I just have no desire to overpay for virtually everything in Las Vegas and apparently I am not alone…