Tourism execs weigh Comdex impact

Robert Macy

Thursday, Nov. 19, 1998 | 4:23 a.m.

Las Vegas' largest convention wraps up Friday, and tourism executives are weighing its impact, despite reports of a record crowd.

Comdex officials are estimating the final attendance will top 220,000, surpassing last year's record of 211,000.

An official count won't be known for a couple of weeks.

The number of international attendees is down about 5,000 over a year ago, and Asian economic woes are blamed.

Alan Feldman, a spokesman for Mirage Resorts Inc., says bookings for Comdex have been off about 15 percent this year.

The company has 11,000 rooms at four Las Vegas hotel-casinos, and Comdex is filling about 80 percent of those rooms this year, compared to 95 percent in past years.

Traditionally, most of the major hotels in the city are sold out months in advance of Comdex, but this year most had rooms available all week.

"There are not as many people coming, and not as many staying as long," Feldman said Thursday. "The biggest difference between this year and the past is that the demand for rooms is less than it has been in the past, citywide.

"Last year, IBM announced it was going to send fewer people this year," Feldman said. "I think other companies evaluated that and also cut back."

Many Comdex attendees stayed three nights instead of four, Feldman said.

Another factor in the increased availability is the addition of 5,100 rooms the past year, including 3,025 at the new Bellagio, a Mirage resort.

Rob Powers, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said it will be sometime next week before there is a final number on this year's occupancy figures.

Gaming revenues were lower at the Mirage properties during Comdex but "that's traditional and expected," Feldman said. Comdex attendees are known for being conservative in the casinos, opting to spend their time in meetings and at company parties.

Feldman said next year the Mirage properties may block fewer rooms for Comdex. Most hotels block a certain number of rooms for the giant convention for months in advance, turning away non-Comdex customers.

And Mirage, like most properties, held room rates high until it became apparent the rooms would not sell out as they had in the past.

This, Feldman said, "drove off other customers."