Terror causes golf show to cancel on Las Vegas

Friday, Sept. 21, 2001 | 10:45 a.m.

In more bad news for the hotel-casino industry, a golf industry group has canceled its convention and trade show that was set for Las Vegas next week.

PGA Fall Expo is the largest group yet to cancel a Las Vegas event following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in New York and Washington. The exposition was planned Monday through Wednesday at the Mirage hotel-casino and 23,300 people were scheduled to attend.

Reed Exhibition Cos., the show's organizer, said in a release that the decision to cancel was made after several exhibitors, including Nike Golf and Orlimar, pulled out. Organizers also said sharp declines in attendance were expected for the show following the attacks that killed thousands of people.

Reed is an international company with North American headquarters in Norwalk, Conn.

A spokeswoman for Reed said the Las Vegas event would not be rescheduled since a similar PGA trade show is planned in Orlando, Fla., Jan. 24-27. The 2002 Las Vegas show already is scheduled for Sept. 9-11.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said with the announcement on the PGA show, 253 events, mostly small meetings, have been canceled or postponed. LVCVA officials said there have been 241 cancellations and 12 postponements with a combined scheduled attendance of 83,207 people.

That number of people attending events in Las Vegas would have produced a nongaming economic impact of $104.4 million, the LVCVA said.

Nearly all the cancellations are for meetings and shows that were scheduled in the next two months.

Following the PGA cancellation, the LVCVA issued its own statement confirming that four large trade shows with attendance totalling about 300,000 people are still on schedule.

The LVCVA said show managers from Comdex, the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), Fun Expo and the Amusement Music Operators Association confirmed their plans for shows between October and mid-November.

"The news today represents a huge economic boost of confidence for Southern Nevada's tourism and convention industry in the wake of last week's tragic events," Manny Cortez, president and chief exeuctive officer of the LVCVA, said in the statement.

SEMA, an automotive products show, and Comdex, a computer exhibition that is the city's largest convention, announced earlier in the week they plan to continue, but organizers for both shows said they expect attendance to be down.

SEMA, scheduled Oct. 30 through Nov. 2, was scheduled to bring 75,000 people to the Convention Center while Comdex was to have an estimated attendance of 200,000 people for the event Nov. 12-16.

Fun Expo is a family entertainment industry show with an estimated attendance of 5,500 people, scheduled Oct. 4-5. The AMOA event, for amusement, music, vending and entertainment industries, is scheduled Oct. 4-6 with 6,500 delegates expected.