Coronavirus

Las Vegas Can Now Host Conventions With Up to 1,000 Attendees


Skift Take

Nevada’s Governor Sisolak just announced that gatherings of up to 1,000 attendees can happen in Las Vegas.


In a press conference, Governor Sisolak outlined that gatherings of up to 250 or 50% capacity (whichever is less) are now allowed. 

If a venue has the capacity to keep cohorts of 250 attendees, the limit goes up to 10% of the venue’s total capacity provided a safety plan has been submitted and approved by the state. Therefore, if a venue can normally accommodate 10,000 people, they can apply for special permission to host 1,000 (a total of four groups of 250).

This 1,000-person limit applies to conventions provided the following conditions are met:

  • The venue allows for separating attendees into groups of 250 or 50% capacity (whichever is less)
  • Venue staff are limited to one area and one group, and cannot cross over
  • Each individual area must be separated by floor-to-ceiling walls, and must either have separate entrances or stagger entrance to avoid crowding or cross-exposure between groups
  • Attendees must be pre-registered
  • Shared use of restrooms and concessions, merchants, etc. must be strictly minimized
  • A risk mitigation plan has been submitted to the local health authority and approved by the appropriate state authority

 

No mingling allowed, no mixing of the groups, distancing and mandatory mask measures have to be respected. Planners need to seek approval for such meetings.

 

Certain large venues such as the T-mobile Arena can apply for a 10% capacity allowance.

The news comes as the Silver State has plateaued in Covid-19 cases from its peak in July.

While this is definitely a sign of restart for the devastated sector of meetings and conventions in Las Vegas, questions still remains on the confidence of planners to book business in a ‘destination’ city.

Las Vegas in most cases requires travel. Regional business can kickstart the comeback, but national and international business travel still remain unlikely.