Las Vegas is dealing a full house this weekend at what could be its biggest-ever New Year's Eve bash.

 

A record 314,000 out-of-town partyers are expected to descend on the Strip and elsewhere Saturday night, paying higher prices at sold-out hotels, packing nightclubs to see the Kardashians, Black Eyed Peas and Stevie Wonder and capping a year of continued rebound from a steep economic downturn.

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That single evening of revelry will translate to non-gaming revenues of nearly $193 million and puts the city on track to host 39 million visitors in 2011, vs. 39.2 million during the high-water year of 2007, says Kevin Bagger, senior director of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

"While the recovery has been gradual and spending has taken longer to recover, visitor volume has been strong," Bagger says. Average hotel rates have risen steadily over the past 20 months, he adds, despite a 1.2% boost in room inventory thanks to the openings of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and CityCenter lodgings.