By Ray Smith, Exhibit City News
Las Vegas is spending $300,000 for an exhibit booth at the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW tradeshow May 4-7 in Los Angeles, despite sustainability and cost savings that were touted when the booth was built for IMEX America.
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors approved the expenditure at its April 9 regular meeting, selecting Conex Exhibition Services of Miami to design and build the booth. Conex also built the IMEX booth.
Kate Wik, chief marketing officer for the authority, emphasizes that a strong presence at IPW is important to Las Vegas recovering visitor and convention attendance lost during the pandemic. IPW draws 4,500 tourism and travel representatives from 60 countries and drives $5.5 billion in travel business to the United States.
The tradeshow is held in various U.S. cities each year, including five times in Las Vegas, most recently in 2021. Las Vegas has participated in the show for 33 years, strengthening partnerships with airlines, resort properties and travel agencies, Wik adds.
The convention authority chose Conex for design and construction of the IPW exhibit booth in a sustainability and cost-saving effort. Conex will use key components from the booth built for IMEX America, which was held in October at Mandalay Bay Convention Center, and will incorporate them into the IPW booth.
Wik says there were other bidders for the booth contract, but she was unable to provide names or design specifications for the booth. An email requesting comment from Conex was not returned.
Conex boasts 25 years of experience in providing tradeshow services around the world, specializing in planning, design and construction of stands and pavilions. Based in Miami, the company has offices in Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, Brazil and Colombia.
TOURISM IMPACT
In an agenda item requiring no action, the LVCVA board was presented with the 2023 tourism economic impact report from Jeremy Aguero, principal of Applied Analysis research firm in Las Vegas.
A Las Vegas native and UNLV graduate, Aguero has been deemed the local expert in economic projections, including the Formula One Grand Prix, Super Bowl and proposed MLB baseball stadium.
Highlights from his report include record visitor spending of $51.5 billion, a substantial jump from $44.9 billion in 2022. Visitor spending for each trip increased to $1,261, compared with $867 a trip prior to COVID, though board members Carolyn Goodman and Cedric Crear pointed to concerning inflation factors that are driving up prices for hotel rooms, dining, drinks and entertainment in Las Vegas.
Tourism directly supports 248,529 jobs in Las Vegas and pays $21.2 billion in wages and salaries, the economist adds.
“The magnitude of the numbers gets lost because it’s so large,” Aguero tells the board. “The ripple effect, the direct impact from hotels, restaurants, shopping, casinos, and the indirect impact, vendors and suppliers, those jobs would not exist in our community today.”
Las Vegas counted 40.8 million visitors in 2023, up from 38.8 million the previous year and up from a dismal 19 million in 2020, lagging yet behind the peak numbers of 42 million before the pandemic.
The convention segment is showing signs of improvement as attendance reached 6 million in 2023, again, up from 5 million in 2022, and down slightly from the peak of 6.6 million in 2017 and 2019.
Convention and meetings visitors spend $1,520 on each trip, compared with leisure visitor spending of $1,217.
“We still have some work to get back to peak numbers,” Aguero says. “The international numbers are slower to come back.”
EVENT SPONSORSHIPS
The board approved funding Las Vegas Events to the tune of $325,000 for its Downtown Rocks concert series, taking place April through October at Fremont Street Experience.
Launched in 2009, the free concert series will feature 14 bands playing on three separate stages. The money will pay for the musicians, marketing and branding elements, and will bolster downtown hotel occupancy.
In two separate items, the board approved $500,000 for marketing the National Finals Rodeo coming in December, and $33 million to host the rodeo through 2035.
Las Vegas has hosted NFR for the past 38 years through a partnership with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. The event draws 170,000 fans and is a cornerstone in the transformation of Las Vegas into a sports destination.
