The popular CES trade show highlighting advances in consumer technology will feature two new categories, space and food, when it returns to Las Vegas early next year.
The space exhibits will showcase advanced technologies in communications, biology, and human health technologies, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Food innovations include advancements in meal kits, nutrition, and plant-based proteins.
Technology is propelling the space and food industries to new heights,” said Karen Chupka, the Consumer Technology Association’s executive vice president.
The Jan. 5-8 show is set to take place at the Las Vegas Convention Center and at hotel-casino convention sites on the Strip. The CES locations on the Strip will include the Sands Expo & Convention Center and conventions centers at the Aria and Mandalay Bay. The Convention Center is east of the Strip.
The show next year also will highlight advances in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics, and more.
The Arlington, Va.-based Consumer Technology Association’s event formerly was called the “Consumer Electronics Show.” On its website, the CTA urges people not to refer to it by that former name.
The trade show has been held in Las Vegas for more than 40 years. The 2021 CES show was an online-only event because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Conventioneers Fill Hotel Rooms
Conventions such as the CES show as seen as vital to Las Vegas’ long-term economic recovery. These events bring large numbers of people to the Las Vegas Valley, helping fill the city’s thousands of hotel rooms, especially during the slower middle of the week.
The last live CES show in Las Vegas occurred in 2020, before COVID-19 cases began to spike. That event attracted 180,000 visitors to Las Vegas.
During the coronavirus pandemic last year, conventions were nonexistent, contributing to a deep slump in the Las Vegas economy. At one point during the pandemic last year, Las Vegas led the nation with a 34.2 percent jobless rate, according to the Wall Street Journal. Several major resorts on the Strip closed their hotel towers because of low consumer demand.
Chandra Allison, senior vice president of sales at the Venetian Resort, told the newspaper earlier this year that getting events and meetings such as CES to return to Southern Nevada is “paramount to the city’s economy.”
LVCVA OK’s Ad Contract
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority this week took steps to help promote the city globally and tap into the public’s pent-up urge to travel.
The tourism agency this week approved a $500 million contract to retain its longtime advertising and marking firm, Las Vegas-based R&R partners. A New York-based agency also was brought in to help with the promotional effort.
The LVCVA this week also approved a 4 percent pay raise for CEO and President Steve Hill, bringing his salary to $397,590.
One of Hill’s tasks for the 2022 fiscal year is to help develop solutions to the I-15 traffic jams that frustrate visitors returning to Southern California.
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