LAS VEGAS — When Mike Tafoya opened a dessert shop along the Las Vegas Strip, he was banking on strong foot traffic to drive sales.

He’s near the Las Vegas Convention Center and gets a boost when conferences are in town. But he normally isn’t too busy on weekdays, and neighboring shops also are grappling with a slowdown.

Overall, business hasn’t been terrible this year at his store, Lost Sweets, “but it hasn’t been great,” Tafoya said.

Las Vegas’ tourism-dependent economy is hitting the brakes. Visitor volume and consumer spending are tumbling in America’s casino capital, and the local unemployment rate is hovering among the highest in the country for big metro areas.

“The whole town is slower,” said Crazy Horse 3 owner Nando Sostilio, whose strip club recently announced a slate of specials to draw more customers.

Southern Nevada relies heavily on outsiders traveling here to spend big eating, drinking, gambling, partying and going to shows and conventions to fuel the economy. But amid a series of financial headwinds — and as President Donald Trump’s trade wars spark widespread economic anxiety — fewer people are taking Vegas vacations this year.

Sostilio, for one, said this is the slowest summer in Las Vegas he’s seen in a long time.

“We’re starting to see some pullback in the Las Vegas market, there’s no doubt about it,” said Brian Gordon, a principal with Las Vegas consulting firm Applied Analysis.

‘Thinking twice about how they’re spending money’

Gordon said the downshift “feels painful,” but he contends the economy is heading toward more normal levels that were seen before the pandemic.

Government stimulus checks helped fuel consumer spending after the public health crisis shut off much of the economy overnight. That extra cash stopped coming years ago, but after a stretch of high inflation, people still face elevated prices on everyday goods, credit-card balances have climbed and consumer confidence has weakened, all while higher tariffs on imports could push up prices yet again.

“All of those things are hitting all at once and contributing to how people are responding in their daily lives,” Gordon said.

This includes pulling back on discretionary spending, such as trips to Las Vegas and other destinations, he added.

Andrew Woods, director of UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research, said that he hasn’t seen any major layoffs lately and that while the economy is slowing, it seems to be holding up.

But he noted the region can be a bellwether for consumer habits because of its heavy reliance on discretionary spending.

There is also growing frustration over resort fees, parking costs and other expenses that can make Las Vegas a pricey place to visit. Casino operators and others have rolled out price breaks this summer to boost business, but if someone feels less secure in their finances or future job prospects, not taking a trip to Vegas can be an easy way to save cash.

Woods noted that people are thinking twice about how they’re spending money and where they’re traveling. He also said that Las Vegas’ economy tends to get hit before other markets.

If the U.S. economy weakens a lot, Las Vegas will feel it first and recover last, he said.

Tourism jobs

Las Vegas’ economy, which has a history of booms and busts, is looking bruised.

The local unemployment rate in June, 5.8 percent, was third highest among the 50-plus metro areas with at least a million people, federal data shows.

Around 19.5 million people visited Las Vegas this year through June, down 7.3 percent from the same six-month stretch last year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

In June alone, visitor volume tumbled more than 11 percent from June of last year.

The leisure and hospitality sector accounts for 27 percent of Las Vegas’ workforce — compared with 11 percent nationally — and employment remains high.

Locally, more than 308,000 people worked in the industry as of June, well above pre-pandemic levels, federal data shows.

However, the unemployment rate consists of more than just layoffs, according to David Schmidt, chief economist with the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

Nevada has a high share of people who are out of work for other reasons, including people who quit their jobs, or entered the labor pool for the first time and are trying to find a job, or weren’t working for a while and are now looking again, he explained.

Still, he noted that Las Vegas’ economy overall is “a lot flatter” than it used to be and that when economic uncertainty rises, it’s harder to make any long-term plans.

“If you are less secure in your finances, you’re probably a little bit more defensive in your mindset,” Schmidt said.

‘Less money to go around’

The Las Vegas area had nearly 2.4 million residents as of last summer and welcomes millions of visitors monthly. However, consumer spending has tumbled amid the tourism slump.

Such purchases aren’t down across the board, but the data points to a pullback at restaurants, clothing stores and other shops in Southern Nevada.

Sales at food and beverage outlets; car and auto-parts dealers; clothing, shoe and jewelry retailers; and furniture, electronics and appliance stores in Clark County all fell in a recent 11-month period as compared with the prior same stretch, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation.

Some categories encompass locals and tourists alike. Food service and drinking outlets, for instance, logged nearly $11.7 billion in sales from July 2024 through May 2025, down 1.6 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The percentage drop looks small but amounts to a huge pile of money: a decline of almost $191.5 million.

There are essentially fewer consumers in the Las Vegas area due to its sliding visitor volume, which itself could lead to cutbacks in local workers’ hours and paychecks, according to Bryan Wachter, president of the Retail Association of Nevada.

He also cited ongoing inflationary pressures and noted that when households pay more for essentials, they often pull back on discretionary spending.

Gordon, the consultant, said consumers’ finances are getting squeezed.

“There’s just less money to go around,” he said.

‘Trump slump’

It’s still too early to gauge the full impact of Trump’s tariffs. But the U.S. economy has been on a roller coaster this year as the president’s ever-shifting trade wars threaten to push up prices for businesses and consumers alike.

Bryon Watkins of Las Vegas, who said he has been driving a taxi for several years, stated that business was great the past few years and that he used to pay many of his bills from tips alone.

However, business fell “almost instantly” after Trump started threatening higher tariffs, he said.

“Tourism slumped quickly,” Watkins said.

Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of Las Vegas’ powerful Culinary union, argues that the “Trump slump” has arrived in Southern Nevada.

Trump has bred plenty of resentment in Canada, for instance, with his rising tariffs and calls for turning America’s northern neighbor into the 51st state.

Canada has long been a key source of tourists for Las Vegas, but visitation from the country is falling fast.

Canada’s WestJet, the biggest international carrier to Las Vegas, flew 344,250 passengers in and out of Harry Reid International Airport this year through June — down 21.5 percent from the same stretch in 2024, according to airport data.

International visitors comprise a much smaller share of Las Vegas’ tourist base than domestic travelers. But compared to U.S. visitors, they typically stay longer and spend more money here.

When you tell the rest of the world that they’re not welcome, they may go somewhere else, said Pappageorge, whose union includes resort workers on the Strip and downtown.

“It’s pretty hard to piss off Canadians, but this administration has managed to do that,” he said.

Las Vegas consultant John Restrepo, founder of RCG Economics, said that as the prospect of higher tariffs hangs over the economy, there have been ups and downs in the stock market and weakness in business and consumer confidence.

The final outcome remains to be seen, he noted, “but it’s not heading in a good direction at this point.”

‘Just have to push through’

Tafoya, the dessert-shop owner, serves taiyaki, or warm fish-shaped pastries with fillings, as well as soft serve and other treats.

His shop is in a retail plaza on Las Vegas Boulevard at Convention Center Drive, and he figured that with massive properties such as Resorts World Las Vegas and the Convention Center nearby, there would be plenty of customers walking around.

He said he opened in the plaza early this year and wanted to hire employees. But so far, he can’t afford to take on staff and works the counter himself.

The way things are looking now, he won’t be able to hire anyone soon, he noted. Still, Tafoya said he isn’t disappointed in the location and is hopeful business will pick up in the coming months.

“We just have to push through,” he said.

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