Hot August Nights is in full swing and along with all those shiny classic cars, it brings a major impact to our economy. As the popular event spreads across the region, it brings in a lot of revenue and benefits everyone involved.Â
Mike Larragueta, President/CEO of Reno-Sparks Convention Center and Visitors Authority says since the pandemic, hotel room sales have been really taking off during the month of August.
"As we came out of COVID we definitely noticed our room tax revenues started to increase in our occupancy and our visitation and fiscal year 2023-24 was an exceptional year. It was really an anomaly to be quite honest with you," he says.
In August of 2019 the taxable room revenue generated a little over $46 million in Washoe County. It dropped down to $28 million in 2020. However, over the years it grew back up to over $53 million in 2023.
Larragueta adds, "When we look at how we're performing this fiscal year, we're a little bit off to 2023-24, but it's almost like we've just autocorrected back to normal."
This year Hot August Nights is completely booked with about 6,000 registrations. And attendance has actually peaked about 500,000 people which is higher than the years before COVID.
Les Stuart, owner of Big Daddy Motor Cars, says this event really helps business owners.
"From a vendor's perspective I get my highest returns of investments from this week," he said.
Years ago, Stuart started as a participant, then over the course of time became a business owner, then a member of the board of directors for the event. He says the impact goes farther than just hotels and vendors.
"Meals, lodging, entertainment, you can even say fuel as well. So, multiply that times the 6,000 that are here. That's a huge economic impact."
