Over 126,000 people are on their way to Las Vegas from all parts of the world for the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and for the first time since the recession, Las Vegas is sold out.

CES, Las Vegas

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), the invasion by CES attendees, 2500 exhibitors, CEA organizers and international media will net the city $118 million in non-gaming revenue, most of it for lodging.

Vegas hotels are booked solid despite the fact that the city has added over 16,000 new rooms including ARIA and the other hotels in CityCenter and the newly opened Cosmopolitan.

The 126k+ attendee count expected this year is about the same as last year’s 126,641 count, and it’s a heck of a lot more than the 113,000 who came in 2009.

But the number of exhibitors this year (2500) is a full 25% more than than in 2010, and 1200 of these exhibitors are coming from outside the US. Travel spending this year at CES is likely to be a lot more than last year or the year before.

Shows that if the economy takes off and convention attendance figures and spending continue to creep upwards, the glut of new inventory won’t necessarily hurt Vegas. Even if you consider only January, the number of conventions with 10,000 or more attendees is stunning.

2011 International CES at LV Convention Center (Jan 06-09, 2011) –  126,000

PPAI Expo at Mandalay Bay (Jan 10-14, 2011) – 18,500

Redken Labs Symposium at Mandalay Bay (Jan 16-18, 2011) – 10,000

Shooting, Hunting & Outdoor Trade Show at Sands Expo (Jan 18-21, 2011) – 55,000

Winter LV Market at World Market Center (Jan 24-28, 2011) – 50,000

Surfaces 2011 at Mandalay Bay Events Center (Jan 25-27, 2011) – 25,000

Air-Conditioning Heating Refrigerating Exposition Expo at LV Convention Center (Jan 31-Feb 02, 2011) – 40,000

March is just as big for Vegas, when International Hospitality Week 2011 brings in 31,000 attendees and ConExpo-Con/Agg 2011 will bring in over 140,000 attendees. In fact, it’s such a problem of plenty that some of these conventions are actually trying to reduce attendance to keep it manageable.

CES in particular has cracked down pretty hard. They raised the fees and have reduced exhibitor space. But this has created its own problems. Last year, the CEA had to ask hotels to kick out guests who were meeting with CES attendees and exhibiting in their rooms instead of booking exhibition space at the Convention Center.

But for Vegas, it’s a good problem to have – one which most cities would be happy to tackle.

Photo credit – CEA

Las Vegas will be travel agent central from Feb 15-17, when over 1000 travel agents land up at the The Aria Resort & Casino for Travel Weekly’s Leisure World 2011 and the Home Based Travel Agent Show & Conference, both scheduled to take place simultaneously. 

Leisure World 2011

This year, the agenda for Leisure World 2011 aims to make travel agents more tech savvy with sessions that are heavily loaded things like booking technologies, how to build a better business with social media as the foundation, and getting into the media business to drive your own PR. 

The lineup of expert speakers includes social media gurus like Scott Klososky (upcoming book in 2011 on “Enterprise Social Technology”) and experienced travel pros like Captain Lou Edwards who have unlocked the secrets of using technology and social media for selling travel products. 

Arnie Weissmann, Travel Weekly’s editor in chief, says that attending the event will be helpful for everyone from “the entry-level social media users to those who live and breathe it. Everyone will come away with ideas that will grow their business.” 

Here’s a few of the highlights from the agenda:- 

Social Media Success Stories (Feb 16): Hear from top travel sellers who fill ships, pack tour departures, build groups and generated buzz by understanding and using social media. 

Advanced Social Media Strategy (Feb 17): This session will help advanced social media marketers drive engagement, optimize your feeds and understand the ins and outs of analytics for agents. 

Million Dollar Travel Agents (Feb 16): “Captain” Lou Edwards (owner – Cruises and Special Events At Sea) will show you how he spends almost no money on advertising, only speaks with clients after they have deposited, turns away price shoppers and still manages to book well over $1.5 million in cruises and vacations each year, utilizing a simple automated system.

Become Your Own PR Firm (Feb 15): This session will teach travel agents how to drive their own PR, create and publish press releases and bring attention to your agency. 

Booking Technologies (Feb 17): This session explores the various methods for agent online bookings – what works, what doesn’t and what tricks of the trade make the process simpler. 

See the full agenda, list of speakers, and registration info for Leisure World 2011

The Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism has launched a new ad campaign that bills itself as an alternative desert destination to Las Vegas. The controversial part is that the campaign and each ad is explicitly titled “Palm Springs vs. Las Vegas.”

Each ad explicitly disses Las Vegas for being too urban and ugly, with traffic, fake Eiffel towers and giant neon cowboys that leave little chance to enjoy the natural landscape.

One ad has the tagline “Getting high means something completely different to us” along with a picture of the Palm Springs Aerial tramway climbing up against the backdrop of Mt. San Jacinto.

Palm Spings vs Las Vegas

Another ad says that “It’s a wonderful place to wash the rest of the world off.” The picture shows a guest enjoying a spa treatment in a natural mineral pool, followed by text that says “Oh, it can be a dirty, dirty world out there, can’t it? Fortunately, there’s a terrific place to wash it all off. (As opposed to drinking yourself into a stupor with a three-foot plastic souvenir cup.)”

Other ads have taglines like “Vacation in sweet desert air. As opposed to bus and taxi exhaust” and “We don’t blow up our 50-year old architecture.”

The concept is that Palm Springs hopes to let people know that it is a mini-Vegas without the hassles and crowds. It’s an odd way to do it, to be sure, and Vegas might not take too kindly to being dissed like this. But Mary Jo Ginther, Director of Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism, explains that the ad concept is to highlight the reason why travelers visit both Las Vegas and Palm Springs…year-round sunshine, easy accessibility and a festive atmosphere.

Ginther adds that “But, as we all know, Palm Springs has a more relaxed pace. It is a shorter drive, no traffic, no long check-in lines, and plus, you can be lounging by the pool hours earlier… It’s just a different experience here… We love Vegas, and know that visitors will come to love Palm Springs as much, or even more.”

Palm Springs logo

To go along with the ad campaign, Palm Springs also unveiled a new logo and tagline – “Like no place else” and they intend to hammer this anti-Vegas theme all year long with a $600,000 ad spend on the campaign. The campaign was created by Andrew Wilkin LLC, San Bernardino.

There’s a long history of destinations coming up with ad campaigns that have tried to take the moral high ground against Sin City’s brand and iconic tagline ”What Happens here, Stays here.” The most recent example is New York’s Get More NYC campaign.

The 2,995 room Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, which opens on Dec 15, 2010, represents yet another colossal gamble in Las Vegas where the developer had no choice but to throw in good money after bad.

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

Cosmo began as a $1.8 billion project in Oct 2005, being developed by Ian Eichner’s 3700 Associates LLC. When he defaulted on a $760 million loan, Deutsche Bank foreclosed and tookover the project in Aug 2008. Since selling it off in the middle of a recession was not an option, the bank decided to complete it themselves.

As of date, the project has ballooned into a massive $3.9 billion mega-project, and is the costliest project ever in Las Vegas for a single lender. In their latest regulatory filing, Cosmo says they plan to spend another $890 million this year for the opening. This includes $625 million for construction and $265 million for furnishings and fixtures.

There’s also the costs of the lawsuits – one over its name (which has been resolved), and another one filed by condo owners who allege they were misled about the delays and changes. The Cosmopolitan has 1,353 condo units and the holding company (Nevada Property 1 LLC) created by Deutsche Bank has offered to return the condo owners 74% of their deposit to give up their condos.

To add to the cost, they’re only going to be able to open 2000 hotel rooms this year on Dec 15, and the remaining 1000 will be delayed until July next year.

The 50 story twin tower Cosmopolitan, sandwiched on the Strip between City Center and Bellagio, is sure to further depress Sin City’s room rates which are still in the process of absorbing City Center’s 6,291 rooms. In fact, Cosmopolitan’s arc pretty much mirrors that of CityCenter.

Started off during the pre-recession boom years, got mired in lawsuits and financial problems during the recession, and ended up delayed and grossly over budget. When it finally does open, the ‘new’ factor will get it through the first six months, but there’s no real way to recoup the costs after that. Both projects have faced massive writedowns ($749 million for Cosmo) and their values are now far less than the project costs, even though neither is as yet fully open.

For Vegas, it means a prolonged recovery period from the recession as rates will remain low throughout 2011. To make things worse, there’s one more project waiting in the wings whose arc mirrors that of CityCenter and Cosmopolitan –  the 3,889-room Fontainebleau Las Vegas, whose cost now stands at $2.9 billion.

Fontainebleau is about 70% complete, but the project went into bankruptcy and has now been purchased by billionaire Carl Icahn. He will have to spend around $1.5 billion to complete it. Deutsche Bank, owners of the Cosmopolitan, is also one of the lenders to the Fontainebleau project.

Photo – Kris1123