SEPTEMBER 2019 businesstravelerusa.com40
DESTINATIONS
Similarly, MGM Grand’s $130
million, 250,000-square-foot con-
ference center expansion recently
opened, bringing the venue more
than 850,000 square feet in added
conference space, including a
22,000-square-foot expansion of
Stay Well Meetings, the industry’s
first wellness meetings experience.
Wynn Las Vegas is adding the
400,000-square-foot Wynn Con-
vention Center, set to open in March of next year
in an area just east of the property tower.
It will include a 20,000-square-foot
outdoor events pavilion, a new ball-
room measuring 83,000 square feet,
and a 2,500-square-foot hospitality
lounge with a 72-foot video wall. The
resort is also revamping its 18-hole
Tom Fazio-designed golf course to complement these plans.
But business isn’t everything. And if Las Vegas is about gaming,
entertainment and world class dining, it is also now about sports. The
former Oakland, now Las Vegas, Raiders are preparing to inhabit the
new $1.9 billion Las Vegas Raiders Stadium, a 65,000-seat complex
going up a mile from the Strip with a 2020 completion date.
“Las Vegas has been long celebrated as a leading destination for
business and leisure travel, welcoming more than 42 million visitors
annually,” says John Schreiber, LVCVA vice president of business
sales. “Of those travelers, more than 6.5 million will be headed to the
destination for a meeting or convention.”
One of the city’s greatest value propositions, Schreiber maintains,
is its versatility. “If you can dream it, Las Vegas can make it happen.
When it comes to business travel, the opportunities are endless with
nearly 160,000 hotel rooms, 12 million square feet of meeting space
and three of the top 10 convention centers in the country. When busi-
ness travelers come to Las Vegas they know there will be no shortageof world-class entertainment opportunities to explore around the
clock. We’ve held the honor of being named the top tradeshow
destination for 25 consecutive years, hosting around 60 of the largest
events in the industry,” he notes.NEW FACE OF VEGAS
If your most recent memories of the city are of long-ago visits and
being left in a hotel theme park while your parents set out to explore
the casinos, Las Vegas is not your parent’s paradise anymore; you
really owe yourself a fresh look. Sinatra is best experienced in the wax →New “wows” are on
the way for leisure
visitor and business
traveler alikeABOVE: Caesars
Forum to open in
2020; Las Vegas
Convention Center
Right: Currently
in progress, The
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