While May and June visitor volumes in Mesquite were pumping upward with 10 percent and 7 percent increases respectively over those of a year ago, July visitor counts were more in line with expectations for the area's hot summer months.

Mesquite's visitor volume in July stood at 81,055. While it was a 1.3 percent increase over July 2011, that was the only positive number to come out of the monthly Visitor Statistics report from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).

The July number was the second lowest of the year besting only January's visitor volume of 79,962. March, as is typical for the area, had the best visitor count so far this year at 105,494.

Even with the low number of visitors in the area during the hottest month, the year-to-date visitor volume remained positive with an increase of 4.6 percent over the previous year.

Total Occupancy of hotel rooms fell 5.4 percent to only 70 percent of those available even though the cost of checking in fell to its second lowest level of the year at just over $45.

Total Room Nights Occupied took the biggest hit, falling 7.3 percent to 38,170. The category measures the number of people staying in local hotels and how long they remained in Mesquite.

Perhaps the fall that hurt the most was the drop in Gross Gaming Revenue that declined 2.5 percent from July 2011. At $8.265 million, the amount of money gambled at Mesquite's casinos hit its lowest level of the year. That's $4.5 million less than the gaming venues took in during the month of March.

Still, the year-to-date gaming revenues remained in the black with a 2.4 percent increase from the same point last year.

The Average Daily Auto Traffic counts at 24,767 on I-15 at the Arizona border showed an increase of 1,000 cars passing through daily from June's 23,707. Numbers from July 2011 in this category were not available from LVCVA. That put the category back in the positive numbers for year-to-date counts.

Looking at the numbers for Mesquite's sister city Laughlin shows similar downward trends in all the visitor volume categories. The total visitor count was down 7.8 percent and the Total Room Nights Occupied fell 5.7 percent. Gross Gaming Revenue for the southern border town was down half a percent from July 2011.

Gross Gaming Revenues for all of Clark County were up 21 percent and up 27.5 percent on the Strip in July from a year ago. The LVCVA attributed that to an "exceptionally strong baccarat win."

The LVCVA maintains a Web site dedicated to drawing visitors to Mesquite. Click here to view the Web site dubbed "Mesquite, An Escape from the everyday."

(All numbers courtesy of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority)