Business Travel to Las Vegas Is Critical to Local Economy and the Las Vegas Meetings and Conventions Industry

I was recently in Las Vegas when the 2009 Country Music Awards were held at the MGM. That weekend was a good weekend for the Las Vegas tourism industry, and it was an obvious financial boost — even my cab drivers shared their excitement. But the mere fact that this was apparent to folks means that Las Vegas continues to be very troubled when it comes to business travel or corporate travel.

Meetings and business travel is recognized as vital to the Las Vegas economy. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) recently announced that it is stepping up its efforts to promote its hotels, clients and the business community. And that will be important. I think it’s also a great time for planners to approach Las Vegas hotels and venues about potential meetings and conventions because they will be pleasantly surprised to hear just how flexible many of the properties will be.

And for those who may be organizing events or considering meetings in Las Vegas, the LVCVA online meeting and promotion toolkit is a nice resource that includes photos, promotional copy, vendor search, Vegas facts and more. This will help with everything from determining the right venue to creating event communications.

There are many excellent reasons to choose Las Vegas for business travel, including the range of hotel choices, depth of convention experience, access, weather, activity options, dining, nightlife — the list is pretty extensive. It’s important to keep in mind that 22,000 meetings are held in Las Vegas each year. From my perspective, once the economic dust settles, I image that Las Vegas will continue to be well positioned to support business travel, meetings and events.

Learn more about business travel in Las Vegas.