Hurricane’s potential effect on LV tourism is examined

Liz Benston and Richard N. Velotta

Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005 | 11:12 a.m.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is analyzing statistics on canceled flights from the Gulf Coast region to gauge whether the storm will hurt tourism here.

"It's too early to tell" what that effect will be, LVCVA Senior Research Analyst John Piet said.

The Southern states account for relatively little traffic to Las Vegas compared with the city's top market, California.

About 13 percent of tourists came from the South last year, while Mississippi ranked 46th out of 50 states in visitor traffic. Louisiana was 31st last year and Alabama was 36th.

Meanwhile, the LVCVA is getting "dozens of calls" from convention groups all over the country that had been scheduled to hold events at New Orleans' Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, said Chris Meyer, the organization's senior director of convention center sales.

The calls are from groups as small as half a dozen to those up to 30,000 people, Meyer said.

The LVCVA isn't making calls to lure conventions from New Orleans, he said.

"In a time of distress you don't poach business," he said. "It's against our charter" and also would run afoul of rules established by an international association of convention bureaus, he said.

One convention representative said Las Vegas could receive shows scheduled to be held in New Orleans.

"One of my colleagues talked to a friend who flew his plane over New Orleans and Mississippi and said there is no way they can host conventions, let alone giant conventions," said Kenneth D. Simonson, chief economist with the Associated General Contractors of America.

The Associated General Contractors holds its convention in Las Vegas once every three years and is scheduled to have its convention in New Orleans in March. It hasn't decided whether to change that location, said Rick Brown, the group's executive director of convention and meeting services said.

New Orleans is home to the sixth largest convention facility in the nation, ranking just below Las Vegas' Sands Expo Center. It has 12 halls in a single building and 1.1 million square feet of exhibit space.

J. Stephen Perry, president and chief executive officer of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the convention center had less damage than most attractions in the Crescent City and is advising customers to wait for an assessment.

"Damage assessments are forthcoming but early views are very optimistic," Perry said on the convention bureau's Internet site. "Unconfirmed secondary sources report that the center has suffered minor window breakage and wind damage. Water damage is limited to two halls and is very manageable at this time."

Even so, hordes of refugees from the storm have begun using the center as a shelter.

There was no indication as to how the storm would affect an expansion program expected to be completed by late 2007, which would add about 500,000 square feet to the facility.

The New Orleans center played host to 93 major conventions and trade shows in 2004, resulting in an economic impact of $2.47 billion. As of July 31, the city had greeted a total of 981 meetings with a total attendance of 1.1 million people.

Perry said the bureau's main office in New Orleans is without power and is expected to be closed three to four weeks. In the interim, the bureau is working with the state to open an alternate office in Baton Rouge by Monday.

With several meetings on the calendar in weeks ahead, Perry is encouraging groups to check on the status of their events through their respective organizers. The Emergency Medical Services Expo ended its show just before the hurricane hit, but several groups, including the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement have upcoming meetings.