Rival convention venues make gains on Las Vegas

Tuesday, May 13, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.

Las Vegas continued in 2002 to host most of the nation's largest conventions, but rivals chipped away at the city's market share, the recently released Tradeshow Week 200 says.

The list of the country's 200 largest shows by net square footage leased is produced annually by Tradeshow Week, a publication covering the convention and meetings industry.

Las Vegas hosted 35 of the top 200 shows and leased net square footage totalling 16.9 million square feet, 26.1 percent of the market share. Las Vegas led Chicago (21 of the top 200 show hosted), Orlando, Fla. (20), New York (14) and Atlanta (12).

Last year, Las Vegas had 40 of the top 200 shows. Chicago also had fewer shows this year than last. The biggest gains were made by Orlando, which climbed from fifth to third with 20 shows, and Rosemont, Ill., and San Diego, which broke into the top 10 with five shows each.

Las Vegas was the host for five of the top 10 2002 shows on the list, led by No. 1 ConExpo-ConAgg, a construction show that meets every three years. Las Vegas also was home to the International Consumer Electronics Show (4), the National Association of Broadcasters (5), the August Men's Apparel Guild in California show (6) and the February MAGIC show (7).

Three high-profile Las Vegas shows fell substantially in the list. The Comdex computer show, once the city's largest trade show, was No. 12 in 2002 and fell to No. 38. Networld + Interop, another computer show, dropped from No. 32 to No. 62 this year and the National Association of Television Program Executives, fell from No. 40 to No. 195.