Vegas reports attendance up 6% from a year ago
By Jay McIntosh -- Furniture Today, February 24, 2008
Las Vegas — Attendance at the January Las Vegas Market was up 6% from the previous January and up 23% from the July event, according to market organizers.
Attendance from outside the United States and from the U.S. eastern region was up, and more interior designers came to the market, World Market Center officials said.
Organizers did not release a specific attendance figure, saying only that registrations "well exceeded the historic 50,000 average." Registrants came from more than 100 countries and from 83 of the Top 100 U.S. retailers, according to the WMC. "Thousands" of new buyers attended the event for the first time, officials said.
International buyer attendance was up 60% from July and total attendance from outside the United States — including exhibitors, guests and others — was up 20%, the WMC said. Canadian and Latin American attendance was particularly strong.
"These results serve as compelling testimony to the strength and long-term sustainability of Las Vegas as the center for future industry growth. They are even more remarkable in light of the difficult economic conditions in which both retailers and manufacturers are currently operating," said Bob Maricich, the WMC's president and CEO.
WMC officials also said that "virtually every space" in the new Building C, which will open for the July market, is spoken for through signed leases and commitments.
Construction on Building D, which will be 17 stories and have 1.1 million square feet, is scheduled to begin later this year.
The structure, slated to open in 2010, will expand the market's lineup of furniture and accessories companies and also will introduce two new segments, gifts and home textiles, officials said.
Building D, the fourth facility in the planned eight-building campus, will bring the WMC to 6 million square feet.
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Vegas market attendance rises 6% over a year ago
Feb 20, 2008
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