IAAPA Attractions Expo 2009

Diane Vidoni
Conference & Trade Show Operations Manager, IAAPA
1448 Duke Street, Alexandria
Virginia
United States
22314

Tel:	+1 703 836 4800	Email:	dvidoni@iaapa.org
Fax:	+1 703 836 4801	Website:	http://www.iaapa.org

THE annual IAAPA Attractions Expo’s first ever visit to Las Vegas, which took place in November, proved a big success for the international trade association despite some fears that the economic climate may put something of a damper on this year’s event.

Held on two levels at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, according to the organiser’s figures approximately 24,000 people attended the conference and trade show, of which around 14,700 were buyers from 108 different countries. Indeed the latter figure is said to be a 17 per cent increase on buyers who attended the previous year’s event in Orlando, Florida, which also attracted a total attendance of around 24,000 from 100 countries.

Having moved from Orlando, where the event has been held for several consecutive years, it was perhaps no surprise that a fresh venue, and the bright lights of Vegas at that, tempted strong visitor numbers to attend and while the actual number of exhibiting companies was very slightly lower there was still the usual plethora of products and services on display on the trade show floor to provide much of interest and a packed four days.

Commenting on the figures, IAAPA President and CEO Charlie Bray said: “We had some concerns about the economic conditions of the past year, but Vegas delivered the buyers as we anticipated it would. It may have taken us 91 years to get here, but based on these results, we look forward to our return in 2011.”

While the trade show element yet again offered visitors a superb shop window of the latest products and services available to the attractions industry, a comprehensive educational programme, various behind the scenes tours, numerous networking opportunities, social events and much more combined to provide a week full of activity.

As mentioned, the fact the Expo moved from Orlando also played a part in the success of the event in what are testing times for us all. Of course, Orlando and its excellent convention centre has much to offer and has done IAAPA proud during the many years the event has been held there, but there can be no doubt that moving to another city (and where could be better than Las Vegas?) proved a deft move on behalf of the organisers and provided the added impetus and attraction which helped ensure numbers were maintained and didn’t fall back as a result of the economic woes currently being felt globally.

Buyers as usual represented the full spectrum of visitor attraction type, from amusement and waterparks to aquariums and museums, and increases were noted in various sectors as far as numbers were concerned. As an example, first time attendees were up 12 per cent, while buyers from small parks increased by 27 per cent. FEC representatives were up 20 per cent and waterparks 25 per cent, while those from casinos jumped a massive 139 per cent, not surprisingly in view of the fact that the major G2E casino industry exhibition was taking place at the same time in another part of the convention centre.

Organisers also noted a 53 per cent increase in the number of buyers from outside the US, including a 69 per cent increase in buyers from Europe and 106 per cent in those from Asia. As far as the exhibits themselves went, IAAPA’s figures show that 1,074 companies participated in the trade show (1,154 in 2008), taking up a total of 405,000 net sq ft of space (482,550 in 2008) and as usual everything an operator might wish for and require could be found on display.

Of course 12 months previously, much of the trade show talk had centred round the economic slump as it was around that time that this was really starting to hit hard. Discussions then were very much about how the public’s leisure spend would be affected and how this would impact on parks and attractions; I had many a discussion about reduced travel and people staying closer to home as they tried to reign in their expenditure. And sure enough this proved to be the case during the 2009 season. Overseas vacations for many were put on hold as families decided to holiday at home (or at least closer to home) the outcome of which was that local and regional visitor attractions reaped the rewards, with visitor numbers holding up well and in many cases increasing. Certainly the general picture in Europe was one of a successful season while in the US, when the weather was good, numbers in parks were apparently good too. Many US parks did suffer from poor weather in 2009 though.

Talking to numerous manufacturers and suppliers at the show, however, the general tone was quite upbeat, with new products and projects being highlighted in many cases and company representatives reporting positive feedback from the event.

“I felt that this year’s IAAPA show in Las Vegas was one of the best in recent years,” noted Terry Monkton, managing director at UK company Simworx. “The quality of buyers was excellent and I received a record number of serious enquiries for the IAAPA show. We were helped by the publicity generated in the US market during 2009 about some of our recent projects and we found that many clients were ‘seeking us out’ because of this. We are already in contract negotiations with several clients having now
returned to the UK.”

Also reflecting on a good show was ProSlide chief Rick Hunter, who commented: “Our feeling was that in the last year and a bit more the market had really tightened up globally. What was encouraging was that we could feel a lot more movement and energy worldwide. You can’t keep entrepreneurs down too long. They get edgy. We are entrepreneurs too and always want to do stuff and do new ideas. We had a good show and feel it was the best show for a couple of years. And winning the award was great. We actually booked some contracts at the show too which is unusual.