Las Vegas feels squeeze from convention, trade show slowdown

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2001 | 11:11 a.m.

Corporations and associations are tightening their belts for conventions and meetings in response to the slowing U.S. economy and Las Vegas is starting to feel the squeeze.

Industry experts say fewer people within organizations are attending meetings and that is resulting in reduced revenues for many companies.

Las Vegas is somewhat insulated from the downturn, however, because of its appeal as a convention site.

Kevin Bagger, a researcher for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said convention attendance in Las Vegas is up 13.8 percent through May, with 2.1 million convention visitors this year compared with 1.8 million over the first five months in 2000.

Bagger said Las Vegas has the advantage of being an attractive destination, both for conventions and tourists, and the city's army of sales staffs blanket the nation recruiting new business.

Convention attendance in Las Vegas climbed a modest 2.1 percent from 1999 to 2000, even though there were fewer shows in Las Vegas, with 3,847 in 1999 and 3,700 in 2000.

Bagger said the LVCVA pays less attention to the number of shows coming than to overall attendance, since the primary goal is to fill hotel rooms, and that can be accomplished with one large show, or several smaller ones.

Curtis Love, assistant professor in the Tourism and Convention Administration Department at UNLV's William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, said organizations aren't eliminating their convention budgets -- they're just stretching them by sending fewer participants or cutting in areas like meals and entertainment.

"For some of the smaller businesses, conventions are events they can't afford to miss," Love said.

One Las Vegas company seeing a slowdown in the convention and meeting business is GES Exposition Services, which sets up and runs conventions.

"2001 has been and will continue to be a very difficult year because of the convention and event business," said Robert Bohannon, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Viad Corp., parent company of GES.

"In those businesses, our customers are primarily Fortune 1000 companies and many customers have slashed spending. We have seen a drastic change in a very short time. ... We don't see a rebound in the second half (of the year)," he said.

But Las Vegas got a boost in July when 3,421 meeting planners from 32 countries were in the city for Meeting Planners International's 2001 World Education Congress. The three-day show gave local resorts an opportunity to show their facilities to the people who plan business meetings, conventions and trade shows.