The Las Vegas Convention Center opened its 1.4-million-square-foot new West Hall and welcomed its first major convention since the pandemic, World of Concrete.
In addition, the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, an underground tunnel constructed by Elon Musk's The Boring Company and used to shuttle convention attendees throughout the 200-acre campus via all-electric Tesla vehicles, also became fully operational.
"This convention reinvigorates our commitment to be bold in how we envision the future of infrastructure and recovery of our state and this is only the beginning," Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "We are back in Las Vegas and there is no better or safer place to come to have a convention than Las Vegas."
The excitement for the restart of conventions was palpable.
"We are excited to welcome our convention customers back to Las Vegas and to our new West Hall, reigniting the meetings and convention industry," said Steve Hill, LVCVA president and CEO. "Today is not only a great day for our city, it's a great day for the meetings and conventions industry across Las Vegas and across the United States."
Construction on the new facility began in 2018 and continued during the pandemic. The new West Hall is spacious, offering 600,000 square feet of exhibition space, including 328,000 square feet of column-free space. Natural light floods the space, and an open-air atrium features a 10,000-square-foot digital screen developed by Samsung. A 14,000-square-foot terrace can hold receptions of up to 2,000 attendees and features views of the Las Vegas Strip.
Informa Markets, which puts on World of Concrete, welcomed the return to in-person events and remains committed to Las Vegas.
"We are thrilled to be returning to the live event format, especially in the home of the exhibitions industry in the U.S., Las Vegas," said Nan Walsh, president, North America at Informa Markets. "There is an unparalleled magic about in-person connection-from sharing laughs with old friends, creating new ones, learning from industry experts, and seeing and feeling the latest products and innovations. We are so happy to be the first large-scale trade show to return to the show floor in the U.S., and the first to use the Las Vegas Convention Center's incredible new West Hall, and through that partnership I believe we are signaling a return to business and connection that is needed now more than ever."
Attendees at the convention are also able to use the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, which connects the new West Hall to the North and South Halls via one-way vehicular tunnels. There are already plans to expand the system throughout the resort corridor, which will ease traffic in the region.
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