Cvent

Las Vegas Meetings See 340 Group Cancellations

Thursday, March 12, 2009 by Cvent Staff
Las Vegas SkylineMiami is by no means the only city suffering for the media backlash toward meetings and events. Las Vegas has seen 340 groups cancel meetings in the city over the past 90 days, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. These meeting cancellations equate to about 111,800 fewer visitors, 236,700 room nights lost, and $131 million in non-gaming revenues lost.

Las Vegas has been a prime target for meeting cancellations for a while. In February, President Barack Obama made the now-famous remark regarding recipients of government bailout funds, "You can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime." After the remarks, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs Group quickly canceled their conferences at hotels on the Strip.

"When you make a casual, although not malevolent remark, it can have ramifications which affect the industry as well as all of the citizens who live in southern Nevada," said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman in response to Obama's comment.

Whether due to Obama's remarks or not, it's clear Las Vegas has taken a hit. The city saw an 11.9 percent drop in visitors in January as compared to the same month in 2008. Convention visitation dropped 20.6 percent. Such poor numbers led to the convention authority's decision to suspend the $890 million renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center until at least 2010.

Las Vegas hosts about 22,000 meetings, conventions and tradeshows annually, attracting six million visitors who account for an economic impact of $8.5 billion, according to the LVCVA. Over 46,000 Southern Nevada workers are employed by the meetings industry.

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