LAS VEGAS – Fred Campbell plans to head here in early June with an ambitious goal: to build a pristine 26-foot wall using 800 bricks in an hour. That will be enough to become world champion in mason for the fourth time and to secure his reputation as a mason superstar.
“It will happen,” said Campbell, a bricklayer from Greeneville, Tenn. “It’s set in stone.”
But a more critical test is imminent. World of Concrete – the convention that hosts the bricklaying competition – is the first major, face-to-face show in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic began. Much is at stake, even for a city that is used to high stakes.
“Everyone has this in mind,” said Tommy Blitsch, director of trade shows and conventions for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and principal officer of Local 631 in Las Vegas.
If the show hosts tens of thousands of visitors with no major issues like a virus outbreak, it will be a milestone and signal the revitalization of convention business across the country, Blitsch said. But if there’s a big catch or people stay away, it could be a setback for cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Miami, and Las Vegas in particular, where tourism is picking up again but big-budget business travelers are scarce.
“Las Vegas is like a Ferrari and the trade fairs and congresses are the engine,” said Blitsch. “You can have a really nice shiny Ferrari, but you won’t get very far with a four-cylinder engine.”
In any case, the risks associated with holding a large trade fair are much lower than they have been for more than a year.
The number of COVID-19 cases is falling. World of Concrete is planning several safety precautions. Casinos, where congress goers are likely to spend their free time, have pushed workers to get vaccinated; Several large casinos say 80 to 90 percent of their staff received at least one shot. That compares to about 54 percent of eligible people 16 and over in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located.
Local officials recently announced with a roar that the county, which is 80 percent occupied, will lift all pandemic restrictions on June 1, so restaurants, hotels and bars can be fully opened.
But even when officials here and elsewhere express their confidence in the future, they keep an eye out for possible surprises from a dangerous and unpredictable enemy: are they moving too fast or too slow? Are Variants a Threat? How can they reach people who have not yet been vaccinated?
“It feels like we’re in the front seat of a roller coaster,” said Alan Feldman, a distinguished fellow at the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. “We see a clear sky in front of us, but will we continue to rise – or will we set?”
Brian Labus, assistant professor of epidemiology at UNLV, said his concerns are centered on the new federal policy that people who are vaccinated are not required to wear masks in most locations. “It depends on the honor system, which is much asked of people taking their first vacation in a year and a half and coming to Las Vegas to escape their pandemic worries,” he said.
World of Concrete, which is dedicated to the concrete and masonry construction industry, operates under previously approved limits of 80 percent capacity and a social distance of one meter, according to a spokesman for Informa Markets, the company hosting the fair.
The three-day show, which begins June 8, will use extra-wide hallways, temperature controls at the entrance, and hand sanitizing stations. However, participants do not need to be vaccinated and masks are recommended but are not mandatory according to the show’s website.
Nobody expects this year’s convention to attract 50,000 to 60,000 people like it has in the past. Blitsch is hoping for half as many visitors. Informa Markets announces that visitor numbers will not be announced in advance as they can fluctuate significantly before an event.
In the years leading up to the pandemic, conventions and trade shows generated approximately $ 11 billion in annual sales for the Las Vegas area and employed tens of thousands of workers, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. This nozzle has been almost completely closed for more than a year.
Now Las Vegas is eager to attract business travelers who spend more on restaurants and rental cars than casual tourists and fill hotel rooms during the week.
With its heavy reliance on tourism, the metropolitan area was hit particularly brutally during the pandemic, recording an unemployment rate of more than 33 percent in April 2020, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.
“It felt like I was watching the apocalypse,” said Jeremy Agüero, senior analyst at Applied Analysis in Las Vegas.
Brandon Geyer, 50, who was laid off more than a year ago after working as a bartender at a downtown casino for 25 years, remains unemployed. “It’s a lot of stress,” said Geyer, who has consulted frequently with an emergency nutrition program run by the nonprofit Culinary Academy of Las Vegas. His union, Culinary Workers Local 226, says about half of its 60,000 members are still unemployed.
But encouraging signs have been emerging for months as hordes of weekend visitors flock to the towering fountains at Bellagio Las Vegas, the 550-foot High Roller Observation Wheel, and the Mob Museum. Buffets, pool parties, and strip clubs are all open and Cirque du Soleil is preparing to resume its aerial acrobatics. In March, Nevada gambling revenues were a whopping $ 1 billion, the highest monthly figure in more than eight years.
Local officials announced earlier this spring that they would wait until 60 percent of the eligible population had been vaccinated before fully reopening, but last week they dropped that requirement. Now that vaccinations are slowing, they’re moving to smaller, more targeted locations, Southern Nevada Health District said. Free shots were offered on Friday at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club, a strip joint, and will be available at the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign on the strip on Monday, with a professional photographer for the Instagram crowd.
Meanwhile, casinos, which are among the largest employers in Las Vegas, have shown themselves to be bright spots when it comes to vaccinations – which could help convince business travelers that it is safe to return.
In early April, the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced a policy aimed at increasing vaccinations among casino employees. The regulator said it would consider raising capacity limits to over 80 percent on arcades where resorts have made “measurable” efforts to vaccinate staff. The board oversees casinos, but not hotels or restaurants.
“I didn’t want people to think things were over,” said CEO J. Brin Gibson. “I wanted them to get vaccinated. I’m worried about an increase in positive cases in autumn and winter. “
Within days, Wynn Resorts, which owns the Wynn and Encore hotel towers and sprawling casinos, notified workers they needed to get vaccinated or submit weekly coronavirus tests. On-site testing is $ 15 per person. Almost 90 percent of employees are now fully vaccinated, according to the company.
The control board enabled Wynn to quickly fill its casinos to 100 percent and remove the Plexiglas partitions between slot machines and seats at gaming tables.
Wynn had tried to counter the pandemic from the start. When it hit in March 2020, the gambling industry was closed for 78 days. Rather than waiting for government direction, Matt Maddox, CEO of Wynn, consulted medical experts and epidemiologists “to run the company at a very confusing and turbulent time,” said Feldman of the UNLV Gaming Institute. MGM Resorts, which owns several large Las Vegas casinos, including the Bellagio, has taken similar steps, he said.
When the casinos partially reopened last June, Wynn posted a 35-page security plan on its website. In January, it worked with a partner, the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, to set up a vaccination station for the community and its staff in an encore ballroom typically used for weddings and corporate parties. It also opened a 3,000-square-foot lab with another company, Lighthouse Lab Services, to process coronavirus tests for workers and interested meeting attendees.
After receiving 55,000 vaccinations, the vaccine facility moved to a location near the UMC hospital in mid-May.
MGM Resorts, which set up a vaccination center for employees at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and pop-up clinics at eight other hotels, ran lotteries for vaccinated employees that offered cash, spa vouchers, and tickets to a Dave Chappelle show. The Cosmopolitan, which had its own vaccination center, distributed $ 1 million in cash to reward its employees for a high vaccination rate – which is 84 percent, the company said.
Anthony Tsatas, 28, who manages pools at Wynn, recently got his second chance at Encore. He said he had no problem getting vaccinated or showing weekly test results: “I think it’s a good way” to increase the vaccination rate, he said.
The board of directors has over the past few weeks allowed many of the major Las Vegas casinos to open at full capacity, weeks ahead of the county’s June 1st date.
The casinos “made it convenient to be vaccinated and inconvenient not to be vaccinated,” said UNLV’s Labus. “Their vaccination rate is much, much higher than that of the general population. You are doing something right and we should learn from it. “
In a crowded lobby at Bellagio, Sharon Merritt, who lives near Pasadena, California and is 80, said “I feel safe,” she said.
Tourists like Merritt are welcome, but Las Vegas is eager to return to hosting major conventions like CES – formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Show, which draws 180,000 visitors. CES plans to return to Las Vegas in person early next year after hosting a virtual meetup this year.
While resorts say convention bookings are high for this year and next, some analysts say it could take business travel a year or more to hit pre-pandemic levels. “Unemployment and underemployment could be a problem for us,” said Agüero, the Las Vegas analyst.
For World of Concrete, the Teamsters would typically employ 1,500 workers to assemble exhibits, said Blitsch. No more than 500 will be needed this year because of fewer exhibits, he said.
The show will take place in a new $ 989 million annex at the Las Vegas Convention Center and in outdoor parking spaces. The convention center was fitted with an underground transportation system that Teslas uses to move people and was operated by Elon Musks Boring Co.
Donna Bellantone, executive vice president of infrastructure and construction for Informa Markets, said the company was considering requiring attendees to be vaccinated, but a survey of potential convention attendees found it would discourage attendance.
Campbell, the 49-year-old master mason, is expecting 30 friends and relatives to cheer him on as he defends his title. He hopes a fourth win will get him in the record books.