Las Vegas Bets $6M on Canada Marketing to Reverse Tourism Slump
The LVCVA is considering a $6 million, five-year Canada marketing contract as Canadian visitors to Las Vegas dropped 24% in 2025
Las Vegas is putting serious money into repairing its most important international relationship.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors will consider a contract worth up to $6 million over five years to fund targeted marketing in Canada.
The move comes after one of the worst years for Canadian visitation in the city’s modern history. Despite some major Vegas executives calling the decline in visitations a non-issue, the LVCVA is focused on making improvements.
A Familiar Partner for an Urgent Mission
The LVCVA has maintained a presence in Canada for 20 years. However, the scale of the current effort reflects just how serious the situation has become. Staff have recommended renewing the contract with Toronto-based Reach Global Marketing, the authority’s existing Canadian representative.
Under the proposed agreement, the LVCVA would pay $1.12 million for fiscal year 2027, starting July 1. Payments would rise slightly to $1.16 million in fiscal 2028 and $1.12 million in fiscal 2029.
Two optional additional years would cost $1.245 million in 2030 and $1.285 million in 2031. The scope of work includes direct airline support, leisure sales, trade public relations, and consumer-facing PR campaigns.
Canada Is Las Vegas’s Largest International Market
The importance of Canadian visitors to Las Vegas cannot be overstated. In 2025, the destination had nearly 1.2 million visitors from Canada, which accounts for 25% of all international visitors to the Las Vegas destination. Canada has been one of the top two countries sending international visitors to Las Vegas since 2000. After a dismal 2025 in overall visitors, Vegas saw a slight jump in January 2026.
However, those numbers dropped sharply last year. The LVCVA estimated that while the total number of visitors to Vegas between January and November 2025 dropped 7.4% year over year, visitors from Canada fell by around 24%.
Meanwhile, Air Canada reported a 36.9% decrease in travelers, and Porter Airlines registered a 43.8% drop on routes to Harry Reid International Airport.
Politics and Tariffs Are Driving the Decline
The drop in Canadian visitors is not primarily due to pricing. It is a political one. In a Longwoods International tracking study from August 2025, 63% of Canadian travelers said they were less likely to visit the United States, citing politics as a reason.
Among those who said U.S. policy affects their travel choices, 80% noted that tariffs were key deterrents, and 71% said they were put off by political statements by American leaders.
President Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods and his repeated suggestion that Canada could become the 51st U.S. state triggered a widespread sentiment shift. As a result, many Canadians redirected their travel dollars toward destinations within Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Caribbean.
Operators Are Already Trying to Win Canadians Back
The LVCVA is not acting alone. Individual operators have launched their own campaigns to attract Canadian visitors.
Three downtown Las Vegas properties, Circa Resort and Casino, the D Las Vegas, and Golden Gate Hotel and Casino, launched an “At Par” promotion treating Canadian dollars as U.S. dollars across select gaming, hotel, and beverage offerings through August 31, 2026.
However, some tourism experts remain cautious. Travel agent Christopher Whyte said these discounts alone do not address the real problem. “These hotels are trying to address the problem with transactional tactics when, effectively, it is not fundamentally a transactional problem,” he said.
The Bigger Picture for Las Vegas Tourism
Canadian visitors represent only part of Las Vegas’s broader tourism challenge. The LVCVA reported a 7.5% decline in total visitors compared to 2024, with the total falling to about 38.5 million for the year. This was the sharpest drop outside of pandemic years since the LVCVA began tracking statistics in 1970.
Major casino operators have felt the impact directly. MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle confirmed during an investor call that Canadian visitation remains depressed. Caesars CEO Thomas Reeg noted that international business, particularly from Canada, is “softer” and remains a drag on results.
The LVCVA’s $6 million Canada marketing commitment signals that the city is not waiting for the political climate to change on its own. It is actively investing to remind Canadians why Las Vegas has been their favorite U.S. destination for a quarter of a century.
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