Summertime is downtime on the Strip as trade shows, conventions take hiatus

Brendan Buhler

Saturday, May 27, 2006 | 7:38 a.m.

Summer's arrival marks the departure of many of our favorite visitors: conventioneers and trade show attendees and exhibitors. They're big-spending seasonal birds - deep-pocketed booze suckers, we'll call them - who fly here to impress and debauch away from the prying eyes of their families.

In June, July and August, convention and trade show attendance is less than half of what it is in January, February and March.

A summertime spike of leisure travelers makes up most of the loss of the convention folks, but still they only spend $705 per trip to the trade show traveler's $1,531.

John Piet, senior research analyst for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said that trade show exhibitors, as opposed to mere attendees, spend the most of all.

Where does all the money not go during the summer? Gambling revenue takes a hit - with families generally less able to subsist on complementary cocktails and wanting, say, food. But an industry that makes $650 million in a bad month is not one on the verge of insolvency.

Strip clubs and strippers also mourn the loss of lonely businessmen on benders, said Ray Pistol, owner of the all-nude Talk of the Town.

"Everything goes down in the summer," Pistol said. "You rely more on the locals crowd."

The shortage of freely tipping travelers hurts even the fully clothed. MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said tips are pooled among workers on the same shift and the casinos operate fewer tables to shield casino employees from lean times.

And, he points out, not every tip-taking worker takes a hit:

"Summertime is obviously the big time for cocktail waitress and attendants around the pool."