April Convention Numbers Up, Slightly

Diane Taylor -- Tradeshow Week, 6/26/2008 11:16:00 AM

Stories in the media involving the economy are so dire these days one might be tempted to sell everything and move to a cave. But look at the LVCVA Executive Summary statistics as they apply to April conventions and, well, things aren’t so bad … yet.

Convention attendance in April was up 3.9 percent, compared with the same period last year, with a whopping increase in the number of conventions (some 600 more than last year) but a modest increase in the economic impact of 2.3 percent. Overall visitor volume, however, was down 1.5 percent.

Average daily room rates continued their downward trend, dropping 7.4 percent compared with a year ago to an average of $135.67. Although convention attendance was up, the number of rooms attendees used was down 6.1 percent compared with last year. Overall hotel occupancy was 90 percent.

Laughlin and Mesquite also suffered in terms of visitor volume in April, seeing declines of 7.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

Among the conventions helping to boost April’s statistics was the Intl. Door Assn. 2008 Garage Door Expo April 22-26 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show, which rotates annually between East and West Coast destinations, reported strong attendance of 4,817. The number of exhibitors set a record, 183, as did the number of people attending educational programs, 3,188.

Next year’s Intl. Door Assn. Garage Door Expo will be held in Nashville, Tenn.