What better place to celebrate the power of face-to-face meetings than Las Vegas, the meeting and event industry’s juggernaut destination in the United States.

As a record number of participants around the globe gathered Thursday for the fourth Global Meetings Industry Day (GMID) to advocate, educate and share the message about a business that contributed $1.5 trillion to the world’s GDP, the impact was just as far reaching in the Las Vegas meeting and event community.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and leaders from organizations such as Caesars Entertainment, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, MGM Resorts International, The Venetian and The Palazzo and Wynn Las Vegas came together to amplify the message that Las Vegas meetings business is strong and getting stronger.

In this town, it’s not just GMID; here it’s Global Meetings “Impact” Day, a shift in verbiage intended to show the valuable mission and purpose of the event that intends to educate the public about the wide-reaching positive impact face-to-face meetings have on global economies and driving business forward, the LVCVA said. The event was held at HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas inside MGM’s Luxor Hotel & Casino.

“Las Vegas is undoubtedly a 24-hour destination and in that spirit, we are constantly innovating and evolving, and when it comes to meetings and conventions, it’s ‘Game On,’” said Amy Riley, senior director of business development for the LVCVA and emcee of the GMID 2019 Las Vegas event. “Every year, we look forward to celebrating Global Meetings Industry Day and our partners around the world whose dedicated efforts drive business and support the economy.”

More than 230 GMID events spanning 42 countries were expected to take place on the GMID day of advocacy, an increase from 2018.

The impact in Las Vegas is impressive: The industry supports 65,000 local jobs and generates more than $9.8 billion in economic impact. Las Vegas welcomed more than 6.5 million business travelers in 2018, and in the first two months of 2019, more than 1.4 million people have traveled to the destination for business.

The city, which hosts nearly 24,000 meetings annually, has more than 11.5 million square feet of meeting space and more than 3 million additional square feet coming online within the next five years. One of those projects is the Las Vegas Convention Center District (LVCCD), which is slated for completion at the end of 2020 in time for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021, an event that utilized 2.8 million square feet of exhibit space at its show this year.

The LVCCD project will add 600,000 square feet of exhibit space, new meeting rooms and other amenities, as well as renovating the entire existing property. Other projects include new meeting facilities such as Caesars Forum and a new convention center at Wynn Resorts.

John Schreiber, vice president of business sales for the LVCVA, said the city continues to invest in its meetings business.

“We keep reinventing ourselves and giving people a reason to come back,” he said. “We always have new projects coming on board. The meetings segment is awesome right now.”

Steve Blanner, senior vice president for hotel sales at Wynn Las Vegas, which is adding 500,000 square feet of meeting space with its new convention center scheduled to open at the end of 2019, said there is demand for more unique and outdoor space.

“From a global perspective, I’m proud that we’re not giving up on face to face,” he said. “I’m glad that we realize the importance of getting people in one room. From a Las Vegas perspective, it’s amazing to see how our industry has grown, not only in how big, but how nice things are.

“Las Vegas has reinvented itself several times. We’re known for entertainment, shopping and food. We’re not adding casinos, but almost everyone is adding meeting space.”

It’s no surprise that Las Vegas has been named the No. 1 trade show destination for a record 25 consecutive years, according to Trade Show News Network, for hosting 48 of the largest trade shows in North America—ahead of Orlando, Chicago and Atlanta.

Thursday’s event kicked off with video remarks of support from some of Las Vegas’ top trade show partners including Karen Chupka of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), Tom Gattuso of Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) and Dennis Slater of Markets Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM).

“When someone says we can’t, that’s when Las Vegas doubles down,” said Jeremy Aguero, principal of Applied Analysis and Thursday’s keynote speaker at the Las Vegas event that attracted nearly 200 meeting industry leaders, professionals and media from across the world.

What happens in Las Vegas contributed to new research from Oxford Economics that showed that face-to-face conferences, conventions, incentive travel, trade shows and exhibitions across 180 countries contributed $1.5 trillion of GDP in 2017. The research also shows that meetings support 25.9 million jobs worldwide.

Thursday’s celebration is the result of a collaboration directed by the Meetings Mean Business coalition, comprised of more than 60 members.

Las Vegas is getting ready for yet another big event, the NAB Show 2019, which also made the list of TSNN’s largest Trade Shows.

“Las Vegas has been the gold standard in trade show destinations for many years,” said Chris Brown, executive vice president, conventions and business operations, for the National Association of Broadcasters. “If you’re in the trade show business and you want to be in the big leagues you know that you need to take your trade show to Las Vegas and it’s always been that way. No other city offers a comparable package of exciting amenities and facilities to Las Vegas.”

While Las Vegas is showing continued success as a top destination for business travel, the city is also rapidly emerging as a leading sports destination, as witnessed by the success of the HyperX Esports Arena.

This year, Las Vegas amplified the educational profile of its signature GMID event by partnering with MeetingsNet and the Events Industry Council to provide one clock hour toward Certified Meeting Professional certification or re-certification in Domain A: Strategic Planning.