A new study posits that holding conventions can lead to Vegas jobs opening up in several industries.

The Las Vegas Review Journal reports on the findings in a detailed article. Here is an excerpt:

The $263 billion in direct spending includes $150 billion related to meetings themselves and the rest to items such as rooms and food bills.

? About 205 million people attended 1.8 million meetings, of which 1.3 million were tied to corporate purposes.

? More than one-third of attendees travel less than 50 miles and return home the same day, while 117 million book a hotel for at least one night.

? The industry pays $25.6 billion in taxes to all levels of government.

“We need this kind of data to show the legislators on Capitol Hill,” American Hotel & Lodging Association CEO Joseph McInerney said. “They need to know that when they talk badly about the industry, sometimes people listen.”

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority counted 18,000 meetings last year that drew 4.5 million people, 12 percent of the total visitor count. But the authority estimated that the average meeting attendee spent $942 per visit, compared with $590 for tourists.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2011 at 10:28 pm and is filed under Hospitality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.