Las Vegas bets on Canadian comeback with promos & discounts

As sure as death and taxes, something we can all rely on with utmost certainty is that the weather in Canada will soon cool off.

And as the temperatures inevitably drop, Las Vegas tourism officials are hoping the number of Canadians heading to Sin City will rise.

“We don't have any predictions,” said H. Fletch Brunelle, vice president of marketing of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) in a recent interview with PAX. “We are hopeful to see things turn around as we move forward. There are certain things we can't control but we'll continue to welcome our friends from Canada." 

"From a faucet to a drip"

Political tensions and a weakened dollar saw Canadian travel to the destination down this past spring and summer.

“As we take a look at this summer's Canadian visitation to Las Vegas and the U.S. overall, we all recognize that there have been challenges and headwinds and that it has been fairly unusual,” said Brunelle. “Because we know that Canadians do like to come to the U.S. for their holiday and also during the summertime.”

In March, Air Canada reduced capacity on select routes to Vegas and recent statistics report that visitor volume in August was down 6.7 per cent compared to the same time in 2024.

While those are overall and not Canadian-specific numbers, the destination is definitely feeling the loss of travellers from the Great White North. 

At a press conference in August, Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Burke confirmed as much saying, “we have a rather large market with the Canadians. It’s gone from a faucet to a drip.”

Some incentives have been put in place to turn that faucet back on. During our interview Brunelle pointed to the recent Fabulous 5 Day Sale - a first ever city-wide sale offering hotel stay discounts, in some cases of up to 50 per cent, along with dining credits and attraction offers.

The sale wrapped up on Friday (Sept. 26), and while it was the first of its kind, it may not be the last.

READ MORE: Las Vegas determined to rekindle love affair with Canadians

“Pending the success, we’re looking at potentially running the sale again.” Brunelle said. “We’ve got to see how consumers accepted and booked those offers.”

Either way, there will be additional deals to be had. “We will continue to look at those ways to incentivize travel to the destination,” Brunelle told PAX.

Tourism officials travelled to Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, and Edmonton last month on a Western Canada sales mission.

“For us it was very important to be in the market to talk about how Las Vegas welcomes all Canadians that want to come to the destination,” said Brunelle. “We've got to be competitive and we've also got to have the right economics to make it work. When you think about Las Vegas from Western Canada, it's a quick flight down. It’s not the same time commitment as it might be to go someplace else internationally. As winter comes back, we hope to see those travellers come back to Las Vegas during the cooler times in Canada.”

"As demand grows, we’ll cater to it.”

The LVCVA partnered with WestJet Vacations to host a select group of travel advisors from TRAVELSAVERS at a Toronto Blue Jays game in WestJet’s Executive Suite last Tuesday (Sept. 23).

“For us, Vegas has always been an important destination,” said Sevi Anagnostis, WestJet Vacations’ manager of commercial partners. “It slowed down a little bit but we see it picking up. They’re doing some great things in the marketplace right now, some wonderful promotions, great savings on food and beverage – things that Canadians, with the exchange, are worried about – but they’re coming to the table with more offers to entice people to go back to Vegas.”

Like Air Canada, WestJet also reduced capacity to Vegas over the summer as a response to the downturn in demand.

“We did pull back early on,” Anagnostis said, “but it has stabilized. As demand grows, we’ll cater to it.”

Brunelle is optimistic that demand will grow.

“We've still got 115 roundtrip flights per week. It's about 18,500 seats from six cities in Canada in September. And then direct flights will come back in the fourth quarter from other markets like Kelowna, Regina, and Saskatoon,” he told PAX. “We know that seasonal service will come back and we will continue to work with our air service partners, whether it's Air Canada, WestJet, Porter, or Flair to get the message out that Las Vegas is open and welcome to Canadian visitors.”

There are incentives for travel advisors as well as travellers.

“There are commissionable components for Las Vegas,” he said. “The tour operators and the vacation package brands of the airlines are always finding commissionable ways for agencies.”

He recommends advisors check out the tourism board’s commissionable page.

“It's still a great destination,” Jane Clementino, TRAVELSAVERS’ senior vice president and general manager for Canada, told PAX at the Jays game. “It’s nice to see they have some offers like the five days promotion, it makes good sense because people still like the destination,” she said. ”It's nice to see they're bringing back some reasonable pricing because for Canadians, with the currency exchange, it's tough.”

But Vegas is so expensive…or is it?

For Canadians undeterred by the current political climate, the cost of the trip may be the obstacle.

It's well known that the prices of alcoholic drinks—to even a simple bottle of water—have skyrocketed at some hotels.

Mayor Shelley Burke addressed this in that aforementioned press conference last month, saying, “a lot of the resorts – and I understand these are business decisions that the mayor can’t second guess – but it’s becoming less affordable to come to Las Vegas and have a good time.”

Speaking with PAX, Brunelle maintained there are still ways to visit Vegas without breaking the bank.

“I would challenge those that are saying it’s not as affordable to actually go and take a look at the different value opportunities in the destination,” he said. “We have recently been working with our social media team to make sure those who are consuming our social media can actually see how to do Vegas in ways that are not expensive. You can find great value when you know where to look and what to do.”

When it comes to things for Canadians to do, Brunelle hopes the return of the hockey season will entice people across the border.

“Finding a time to come see your favourite team play in Las Vegas is always a great thing for us. I am a hockey fan and when I go to the Knights games I actually like to go when the Canadian teams are in. You all travel well and it’s fun to see the competition and the fans.”

Whether it's hockey or another attraction that draws Canadians to Vegas, Brunelle is hoping the winter season will score.

“When we think about Las Vegas, international visitation is roughly 12 per cent of all of our visitors of which Canada is typically 25 per cent to 30 per cent of that,” he explained to PAX. “So Canada and Canadian travellers have always been a top drive for the destination…we would like to see our Canadian friends know they are welcome to Las Vegas and we hope to see them continue to come.”

Don't miss a single travel story: subscribe to PAX today!  Click here to follow PAX on Facebook