Muoio worked as an event coordinator for a third party of electrical businesses and carefully choreographed the power needs of exhibitors, presenters and participants at the fair in the massive hall.
“There are very long days, and you’re on your feet all the time,” Muoio, 39, said. “Sometimes you do not even have time to eat.”
During a typical January, the presence of CES in and around Las Vegas is unmistakable. Hotel prices are skyrocketing, restaurants and clubs are booming, and workers like Muoio are reporting extra hours to make sure everything goes smoothly for the big money show and related events. Last year, the 170,000 CES participants, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, generated an estimated $ 169 million in direct spending and a broader economic impact of $ 291.2 million.
The move, which is intended to prioritize health and safety during the Covid-19 pandemic, serves as a further blow to a city already hampered by the current health and economic crises.
Money running out
The labor market in Las Vegas was hit hardest among major U.S. metro areas during the pandemic. The region is heavily dependent on travel, discretionary spending, business conferences and large gatherings, but the key pieces have already been eliminated.
After Muoio was pampered in March, he was permanently discharged in August.
Since then, she says she has applied for hundreds of jobs – including home events that coordinate roles and positions in customer service or marketing – but she has yet to get anything permanent.
While living without health insurance and awaiting a state application pending since August, Muoio said she was happy she had saved money for a final down payment of a home.
“That money is dripping slowly, slowly,” she said. “I’m running out.”
Brandon Geyer faces a similar situation. He has been working since March.
“Come March, when it first happened, I was under the impression that we would be closed for a few weeks,” he says. “Another week goes by, and another week goes by, and suddenly I’m not back to work since March.”
Geyer, 49, has been running a bar for nearly 24 years at Main Street Station, a casino, brewery and hotel in downtown Las Vegas that is temporarily closed due to the pandemic. And while the crowd grew as CES entered the city, Main Street Station drew loyal customers, of whom Geyer had come to know well over the years.
Geyer said he is grateful he received unemployment benefits, that his wife still has her job and that they are saving money to support themselves and their two children. The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 also helped obtain weekly food aid and groceries.
But the loss of full and steady income is taking its toll, Geyer said. He is hopeful that his union will strive for Clark County, Nevada, to establish a “Right to Return” policy, which requires employers to give fired workers the right to return to their old jobs when businesses reopen.
“We just wonder when we’ll go back to work,” he said.
The main street station owned by Boyd Gaming is expected to reopen sometime in 2021, CEO Keith Smith said during the company’s most recent earnings call in October.
Greedy empty
This time last year, optimism was high that 2020 – and CES 2021 – would be quite prosperous for Las Vegas, said Steve Hill, chief executive of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
‘We stated [room tax dollars] records in seven of the previous ten months, “he said. It looked like it would definitely continue. “
Instead, the 1.4 million-square-foot new West Hall sits empty, Hill said.
The expectation from the visitor authority and the CES organizers is that the event will return to Las Vegas in 2022 and beyond. Although it will probably look a little different when it returns.
“The future of events will most likely include a digital component,” officials from the Consumer Technology Association, which hosts CES, said in a statement. “Throughout this pandemic, the opportunity industry had to innovate, change business models and adapt to our new circumstances.”
On Monday night, more than two dozen parties were lit at properties along the famous Las Vegas Strip with the message: “We miss you, CES. Can’t wait to welcome you back in 2022.”
“All commitments are off”
John Restrepo, head of RCG Economics in Las Vegas, said cities like Las Vegas need to see significant economic improvement, they will need to feel comfortable traveling again, being indoors and spending money.
“And until vaccinations are widespread, all commitments are gone,” Restrepo said.
This time, Restrepo predicts that it will take at least three years before the state reaches the constant annual growth rates seen in key economic indicators before the pandemic. It will take even longer to return to the actual levels of jobs, turnover taxes, game revenue and event attendees.
“It’s going to be a long blow from this quarry here in southern Nevada,” he said.