May 2008 Events for Las Vegas
Last year, May was an above average month for visitor attendance at 109,058 per day versus the average for all of 2007 of 107,388. Although visitor numbers are softening, there are lots of events and a fair convention schedule that should make May a busy month for Vegas.
Memorial Day is a major 3 day weekend for Vegas (Cinco de Mayo not as much since most will not have an extra day off) and in some years Memorial Day has exceeded the preceding New Year’s attendance. There are 5 conventions of 20,000 or more (we list every one of 1,000 or more) and in order of attendance they are: National Hardware, JCK, RECon, Hospitality Design, and Interop. However, for Vegas, May is usually below average for convention attendance.
Big sporting events are Supercross at Sam Boyd Stadium on May 3, UFC 84 at MGM on the 24th and welterweights Mosley and Judah at Mandalay Bay a week later. The first 2 of these should sell out and the best tickets for Mosley and Judah should be at a big premium.
Another hot ticket is likely to be the Country Music Awards on the 18th. If you want to see these events, try to get comped. If you don’t mind paying for the best seats, TicketsNow often has the best inventory of premium seating.
If you wonder how the different months stack up as far as crowds in Vegas, here is a table derived from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority (LVCVA) raw numbers that show average daily visitor counts. We think we may be the only website that has this broken out this way. Generally March and April are the most crowded on a daily basis but May will be very busy this year. The high and low numbers are highlighted.
Raw Numbers (LVCVA)
| |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
| January |
3,048,045 |
3,175,528 |
3,156,419 |
3,138,312 |
| February |
2,950,007 |
2,977,418 |
3,015,850 |
3,107,997 |
| March |
3,396,600 |
3,408,421 |
3,456,738 |
|
| April |
3,290,313 |
3,301,734 |
3,314,448 |
|
| May |
3,370,380 |
3,341,156 |
3,380,791 |
|
| June |
3,222,784 |
3,157,228 |
3,282,315 |
|
| July |
3,388,437 |
3,369,877 |
3,378,193 |
|
| August |
3,252,148 |
3,341,005 |
3,353,997 |
|
| September |
3,173,326 |
3,278,884 |
3,268,125 |
|
| October |
3,303,177 |
3,384,978 |
3,384,546 |
|
| November |
3,097,701 |
3,124,369 |
3,129,508 |
|
| December |
3,073,799 |
3,054,291 |
3,075,831 |
|
| TOTAL |
38,566,717 |
38,914,889 |
39,196,761 |
6,246,309 |
Daily Visitor Counts
| |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
| January |
98,324 |
102,436 |
101,820 |
101,236 |
| February |
105,357 |
106,336 |
107,709 |
107,172 |
| March |
109,568 |
109,949 |
111,508 |
|
| April |
109,677 |
110,058 |
110,482 |
|
| May |
108,722 |
107,779 |
109,058 |
|
| June |
107,426 |
105,241 |
109,411 |
|
| July |
109,304 |
108,706 |
108,974 |
|
| August |
104,908 |
107,774 |
108,193 |
|
| September |
105,778 |
109,296 |
108,938 |
|
| October |
106,554 |
109,193 |
109,179 |
|
| November |
103,257 |
104,146 |
104,317 |
|
| December |
99,155 |
98,526 |
99,220 |
|
| TOTAL |
105,662.2 |
106,616.1 |
107,388.4 |
|
Our chart below shows the overlapping attendance of all events including sports, conventions, etc. By showing the overlapping numbers you get a much more accurate read on Vegas visitors than just looking at major events. We also show a graph of what visitor counts could look like in May.
| Event |
Location |
Start |
End |
Attendance |
| Helldorado Days |
Mult. Events/Venues |
4/26 |
5/17 |
10,000 |
| Self-Governance |
Riviera |
4/27 |
5/1 |
1,530 |
| American Planning |
Bally's |
4/27 |
5/1 |
6,000 |
| Interop |
Mandalay Bay |
4/27 |
5/2 |
20,000 |
| Police and Fireman's |
Flamingo |
4/27 |
5/4 |
1,000 |
| Software Technology |
Hilton |
4/29 |
5/2 |
1,200 |
| Poolplayers |
Riviera |
5/1 |
5/3 |
1,000 |
| Gay/Lesbian Music |
Alexis Park |
5/1 |
5/5 |
2,000 |
| Maxxis Mini Moto |
Orleans |
5/2 |
5/2 |
8,000 |
| America's Glass |
Cashman |
5/2 |
5/3 |
2,000 |
| AMA Supercross |
Sam Boyd |
5/3 |
5/3 |
40,000 |
| Speed Spectacular (NHRA) |
LV Motor Speedway |
5/3 |
5/4 |
10,000 |
| Cinco de Mayo |
|
5/5 |
5/5 |
120,000 |
| Gourmet Housewares |
Convention Center |
5/6 |
5/8 |
9,000 |
| National Hardware |
Convention Center |
5/6 |
5/8 |
50,000 |
| Acord |
Mandalay Bay |
5/8 |
5/17 |
3,000 |
| Nike Basketball |
Orleans |
5/9 |
5/11 |
3,700 |
| Alternative Fuel |
Rio |
5/9 |
5/14 |
1,200 |
| Money Show |
Mandalay Bay |
5/12 |
5/15 |
6,000 |
| Harley-Davidson |
Red Rock |
5/13 |
5/18 |
1,100 |
| Consultant Pharmacists |
Caesars |
5/14 |
5/16 |
1,000 |
| Hospitality Design Expo |
CC, Sands |
5/14 |
5/17 |
20,000 |
| Powercheer (Cheerleaders) |
Cashman |
5/17 |
5/17 |
4,000 |
| Country Music Awards |
MGM |
5/18 |
5/18 |
15,000 |
| RECon |
Convention Center |
5/19 |
5/21 |
30,000 |
| UFC 84 |
MGM |
5/24 |
5/24 |
17,157 |
| Memorial Day |
|
5/25 |
5/25 |
285,000 |
| Wipro |
MGM |
5/25 |
5/29 |
1,000 |
| Enlightened Wealth |
Red Rock |
5/26 |
6/3 |
1,500 |
| Lightfair |
Convention Center |
5/28 |
5/30 |
1,000 |
| World Tea Expo |
Mandalay Bay |
5/30 |
6/1 |
6,000 |
| JCK Show |
Sands |
5/30 |
6/3 |
44,000 |
| Mosley v Judah |
Mandalay Bay |
5/31 |
5/31 |
11,000 |
| Travel Industry |
Convention Center |
5/31 |
6/4 |
5,000 |
| Not a Convention |
|
|
|
|
May 2008 Las Vegas Visitor Graph
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