The drop in visits is "tied to the broader recession," Kevin Bagger, the authority's senior director of marketing, said in a telephone interview.
The national jobless rate reached a 26-year high of 10.1 percent in October 2009. After sliding to 8.8 percent in March it rose to 9.2 percent last month. From the end of 2004 to the end of 2007, the rate averaged 4.8 percent.
Evarts said he has urged county officials to begin offering vow-renewal licenses, since 78 percent of the city's annual visitors are married.
Change Focus
"We really need to change our focus from weddings to vow renewals," he said. "We then are marketing to over 30 million customers a year as opposed to marketing to only 200,000 visitors a year."
Evarts said he is meeting with Alba, the county clerk, and matrimonial-industry representatives on July 28 to discuss issuing such licenses. Alba said the certificates under consideration would be optional, not mandatory, and would display the couple's original wedding date.
"We want it to be something fun, another fun reason to come to Las Vegas," Alba said.
"There is a market among tourists, particularly those from foreign countries, who want to come to a government agency and get a certificate that contains an official seal and that says Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada," she said. Making it official policy may take months, including two county board meetings.
Chapel operators may benefit, Evarts said.
Reinventing Las Vegas