Las Vegas tourism slump impacts famed pizza parlor, sparks concern
A downturn in tourism is taking its toll on Las Vegas businesses, with Naked City Pizza experiencing a significant drop in orders earlier this week. Owner Christopher Palmeri said, "It is just a lot less tourists in town and a lot less business." On a particularly slow Monday, Palmeri reported making only seven orders, compared to the usual 60 to 80 pizzas.
The decline in tourism is not isolated to Naked City Pizza. Jeremy Aguero, principal analyst at Applied Analysis, said, "I think everyone has been expecting some degree of settling, we are certainly seeing it this summer." He noted that despite efforts toward economic diversification, Las Vegas remains heavily reliant on travel and tourism.
Data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority shows a 6.5% drop in tourism from May 2024 to May 2025, with hotel occupancy down 3.1% and a nearly 4% decrease in airport passengers at Harry Reid International Airport. Aguero warned, "We do expect to see some regression."
Despite the downturn, Aguero remains cautiously optimistic, stating, "People are going to look at this and go oh gosh, things are down. But if we look at it in comparison to where we were in 2019, we are still up a tremendous amount."
Amanda Belarmino, a professor at UNLV's Harrah College of Hospitality, suggested that the arrival of the new professional sports franchise, the A's, could help mitigate the slump. "That is where we can see some optimism of, perhaps someone is going to stay that extra day to see the baseball game," she said. The A's are expected to begin their Las Vegas season in 2028.
