Home Front: Chips Are Down for Vegas Tourism

Editor's note: This is the sixth installment in TheStreet.com's Home Front series, a collection of twice-weekly features examining how American business, society and investing have changed in the post-Sept. 11 landscape.

Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and John Chambers will be partying in Las Vegas next week, but 50,000 of their biggest fans won't be along for the ride.

In the past, Comdex has been a hot ticket in the popular technology industry, but the show arrives in Sin City on Monday with thinned ranks and reduced prices. Corporate spending budgets circa 2001 aren't what they used to be; then again, neither is the Las Vegas economy in the economic aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Both industries will be getting down to business with a new backdrop of financial instability setting the tone.

Key3Media (KME Quote), Comdex's parent company, was braced for a 20% to 25% drop in Comdex attendance before Sept. 11, based on the flagging tech economy. According to Key3Media's head of communications, Rick Moore, the decline will now be more like 25% to 30% as corporate belts tighten one more notch and business travelers rethink their plans. In 2000, Comdex ballooned to more than 200,000 attendees and 1 million square feet of show floor exhibits. In 2001, that will contract to 125,000 to 150,000 attendees and a 20% cut in exhibit space.

Pilgrims intrepid enough to visit the valley of the geeks will find travel arrangements much easier to come by, with dramatic discounts. Kristin Koca, spokeswoman for MGM Mirage (MGG Quote) -- owners of the MGM Grand (where Bill Gates will deliver a keynote speech), the Mirage, the Bellagio, Treasure Island and the Gold Nugget -- reports that standard room rates at the MGM Grand have decreased 20% to 50% from last year's prices in the $219 and $349 range. Prices on the Comdex Web site offered rooms at the MGM Grand for as low as $59 this week.

Similarly, in the past, flights to Las Vegas during Comdex had to be booked months in advance. This year, flights are still available at attractive times.

Whitney Brewer, a representative for Southwest Airlines (LUV Quote), says fares for its 170 daily flights to and from Las Vegas are cheaper this year compared with last, though specifics are hard to pinpoint because of the numerous specials airlines are offering after the Sept. 11 terrorism. ...