Two trade shows have different strategies for Las Vegas

By Richard N. Velotta (contact)

Fri, Mar 12, 2010 (3 a.m.)

Little by little, the convention and trade show industry is rebounding.

Last week, the Las Vegas Convention Center was a microcosm for some industry trends that will challenge the city’s ability to attract shows. It’s an industry that may get even more competition from the cyberworld.

In one corner of the Convention Center was the International Pizza Expo, one of Las Vegas’ steadiest customers and an event that is likely to stay in our city for as long as show producers want to keep it here.

One of the city’s tastiest shows, the Pizza Expo draws pizzeria operators from around the world, many of them independent mom-and-pop proprietors, to look at ovens, dough kneaders, ingredients, toppings, chairs, tables, tablecloths and ancillary revenue generators such as video and pinball machines and other amusement gadgets.

The Pizza Expo loves Las Vegas and organizers say having the show tends to raise attendance, which this year was estimated at 6,000.

In another corner of the Convention Center was the Travel Goods Show, an event that showcases new travel products such as lightweight suitcases and bags and apparel that washes and wears well after getting stuffed into those suitcases.

About 3,000 people were forecast to take in the travel show, which has had a reputation for traveling around. Although the 2009 and 2010 shows were in Las Vegas, the 2008 event was in San Diego. Next year, it will be in Chicago.

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s convention sales staff works to recruit shows to the city and stave off hungry competitors anxious to steal business away.

For the Pizza Expo, it would be a tough job to pry the three-day event away from Las Vegas.

“It’s a great partnership,” Bill Oakley, executive vice president of the International Pizza Expo, said of his organization’s relationship with Las Vegas.

This year’s show had about 425 exhibitors — 95 of them new — covering about 100,000 square feet of exhibit space. That’s about 5,000 square feet more than last year.

Oakley said some of the surge can be attributed to the success of the industry itself.

“Operating a pizzeria is not 100 percent recession proof, but it’s close,” he said.

The reason: A large family or group can go to a pizzeria for a tasty meal without paying big bucks. Many who have been laid off and always thought about opening a small pizza joint have found that now may be as good a time as any to test the dream. The Pizza Expo is just the place to learn some of the tricks of the trade and make contacts with suppliers.

Oakley said there was a remarkable number of latecomers to this year’s show and low hotel rates gave them the push they needed to attend.

On the show floor, exhibitors said business was brisk with the crowd dominated by deal-closers and few tire-kickers.

“It’s been pretty good all day,” said Angelo Carmignani, vice president of the Streamwood, Ill.-based Randolph Packing Co., a manufacturer of Old World-style sausages.

Big crowds of sample-seekers gathered around the G.S. Gelato & Desserts booth and you couldn’t get near the displays where Carmen Electra was posing for pictures.

In the other hall, Garret Lai, communications editor of the association, said the show floor was populated with lightweight luggage — a reflection of traveler needs in the wake of the new airline baggage fees.

Accessories also were popular at this year’s show. The reason: Luggage isn’t a commodity one must buy every year, but new gadgets always grab attention.

Among the products showcased in the association’s new products pavilion was a portable scale by Heys USA for travelers to avoid overweight bag fees, a solar-powered computer case by Travelers Choice Travelware and a battery-powered portable fan the size of a cigarette lighter by Design Go Ltd.

Clothing retailers Tilley’s Endurables and ExOfficio offered easy-wash underwear to allow travelers to economize their suitcase space. Fast-drying materials are used for the underwear so they can be washed in a sink and ready for wear the next day.

Lai said his show also had a late surge of new exhibitors, which he attributed to favorable fourth-quarter sales that led to the decision to have a booth at the show.

“Between Jan. 1 and the start of the show (March 2), we added 14 exhibitors,” Lai said. “That’s unheard of. But I think what it means is that these companies got out of the hole in the fourth quarter and decided it was time to look for new opportunities.”

Unlike the Pizza Expo, the Travel Show won’t be back in Las Vegas next year because it will locate its show with the International Home and Housewares Show at McCormick Place, Chicago’s dominant convention center. Because most of the Travel Show is centered on luggage lines and the Home and Housewares Show involves retailers that sell luggage, the two shows will be brought together for the first time.

When shows join up, attendees for either organization can see exhibits in the other organization’s show. It’s a big money saver for companies that like to attend both events. Everybody saves when both are in the same city.

Lai said the two shows wanted to avoid exhibitors having to make a decision about which show to attend. But he acknowledged that there will be some who will lament spending early March in Chicago’s blustery weather instead of in Las Vegas.

LVCVA sales representatives have helped co-locate shows in Las Vegas, most notably November’s Specialty Equipment Marketing Association show, which occurs at the same time as the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week event.

Although convention hosts are battling to retain their market shares, another concept will be worth watching — the virtual convention.

While conventioneers were walking the aisles of the Pizza Expo and Travel Goods Show, the company that purchased the rights to Comdex — the megatechnology show that brought more than 200,000 people to Las Vegas at a time in its heyday — announced it would introduce Comdex as a virtual convention in November.

United Business Media, which produces its Interop computer networking shows in Las Vegas every May, announced plans for the online Comdex Nov. 16-17. Comdex, originally conceived by Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson, had a good run from 1979 to 2003. Whether a virtual convention would have the same appeal as a live show will be an experiment the show industry will watch.

“The original Comdex died because it stopped serving its core customers,” United Business Media CEO David Levin told tech blogger Lance Whitney on the CNET Blog Network. “We are giving Comdex a future by going back to its past. Our virtual Comdex is focused on serving the IT channel, value-added resellers, ISVs (independent software vendors) and all those people and businesses who make up the IT distribution system.”

Virtual Comdex is scheduled around the same time techies once trekked to Las Vegas for the live Comdex.

Southwest to the Caribbean?

Southwest Airlines is always keeping aviation watchers guessing on where it’ll fly next.

The top executive of the Dallas-based airline — the busiest operator at McCarran International Airport — told the Orlando Sentinel last week that Orlando International Airport would be key to the carrier’s plans if it decided to begin service to the Caribbean.

Flights to the Caribbean would require the airline to be certificated to fly over water and modifications to planes would include things such as life rafts. Additional flight crew training would be necessary.

Are Caribbean flights going to be a reality? Southwest officials are notorious for having a few surprises up their sleeves. For example, after attacking large markets with a big expansion in Denver and inaugurating service to Boston and Milwaukee, the airline turned around and added a small new destination at an airport most people have never heard of.

In May, Southwest will start flights to Panama City-Bay County International Airport in northwest Florida.

Singapore gaming

Las Vegas Sands has yet to open its Marina Bay Sands resort in Singapore, but results from the newly opened Resorts World Sentosa by Malaysia-based Genting Group are looking good.

Analysts for Las Vegas-based Union Gaming Group reported they think the Genting property on Sentosa Island off the coast of Singapore has generated from $7 million to $8 million (U.S. currency) a day in recent weeks.

“To say these numbers are encouraging is a monumental understatement, especially without the influence of junket operators,” a recent Union report said.

The Las Vegas Sands property is acknowledged to have a better location and higher visibility than the Sentosa property. It’s due to open April 27.

New York delays

Tourists with travel plans in the next four months involving aircraft flying to or from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York should be wary of potential flight delays.

The main runway at JFK has been closed with about one-third of the airport’s traffic and half of its departures diverted to smaller runways. Planes wait on the ground longer to take off and are in the air longer before they land. Experts say the delays could ripple throughout the country.

The runway is being widened and repaved with concrete instead of less-durable asphalt. The March-to-June time frame was chosen because it’s a period that is least susceptible to weather issues that could shut down construction.

Airlines with nonstop service between JFK and Las Vegas include JetBlue, Delta and Virgin America, but other airlines that serve the airport, such as United and American, could also be affected by flight delays.