Long live Las Vegas, the convention king
Las Vegas has done it again.
For the 19th consecutive year, Las Vegas has maintained its title as the top trade show destination in the U.S., according to Trade Show News Network’s “2012 TSNN Top 250 Trade Shows in the United States” list. Las Vegas hosted 53 of the largest shows, more than the next two competitors combined.
“Las Vegas is honored to be recognized as the No. 1 trade show destination for the 19th year in a row, and we share this achievement with our colleagues in the meetings and convention industry of Las Vegas who make this ranking possible,” Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter said in a statement. “The success of Las Vegas is a testament to our ability to provide exceptional customer service and more value for the experience than any other destination.”
The list represents the top 250 trade shows held in America in 2012, ranked by net square footage. The 53 Las Vegas shows encompassed almost 20.5 million square feet, or 31.2 percent of the total space for all 250 shows. The largest single show was International CES at more than 1.8 million net square feet.
The two closest competitors hosted 47 shows combined, with Orlando, Fla., hosting 27 and Chicago hosting 20.
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With new blood sometimes comes new life.
Since purchasing QVegas, Russ White and his staff have been steadily improving the magazine , which is targeted to the LGBT community. In its ninth issue since White took the helm, QVegas has had changed noticeably.
“People are starting to see a little more robust content. And I’m trying to involve the community more so that we’re pulling from the rich talent that we have here to create the magazine,” White said.
The magazine has a circulation of 20,000 and gets about 6,000 downloads of its PDF file each publication. One-third of both come from readers in Southern California, looking for Las Vegas information before their trips.
White also said readers can expect a new QVegas website this summer, featuring a new design and more social media integration.
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International visitation is looking good for 2013.
International air traffic to and from the United States totaled 26.7 million passengers through February, a
3 percent increase over February 2012, counts by the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries show. In all, 11.1 million U.S. citizens traveled, comprising 42 percent of all air traffic. However, U.S. citizen travel was flat for the period. The number of non-U.S. citizen air travelers increased by 5 percent to 15.6 million people.
U.S. airlines carried 14.4 million passengers, up 1 percent, holding their share at 54 percent. Foreign flags carried 12.4 million passengers, up 4 percent from same period in 2012.
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In business, many increases are good increases.
The Franchise Business Index, an index of the economic health of the franchising industry, increased by 0.3 percent in March, boosted by modest improvements in labor market indicators and credit availability, said the International Franchise Association. This was the third consecutive monthly increase of 0.3 percent, a positive trend for the industry.
Compared with March 2012, the index was up 1.9 percent.
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