CES gadget show prepares wary return amid COVID-19
Is anyone going to CES this year?
A long-simmering question in the tech world will finally get its answer as the influential gadget show returns to the Las Vegas Strip after a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know it will be a smaller show this year, for obvious reasons,” said Jean Foster, senior vice president at the Consumer Technology Association, the event’s organizer.
Several huge tech companies have abandoned plans to attend in person.
The latest sign of its dwindling size was Friday’s announcement that CES will run one day shorter than originally planned.
The sprawling exhibition floors open Wednesday as the spread of COVID-19’s omicron variant has heightened concerns about the safety of indoor events and international travel.
The CTA by late December was anticipating between 50,000 and 75,000 attendees for this week’s conference, down from more than 170,000 who came for the last in-person gathering two years ago.
Some die-hard CES devotees were mulling over the choice to go or stay home right up until last week.
“An online CES is not a real CES,” said Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, in December. “You’ve got to see the products and meet the people.”
But a week later, the royal who regularly serves as a special envoy for Dutch technology startups had opted to stay home after all.
His country is sending a bare-bones crew to CES 2022. So are many big tech companies — if they send anyone at all.
The last physical CES in January 2020 pumped an estimated $300 million into the Las Vegas economy. Few attendees would have known then about the coronavirus outbreak emerging in central China and still months away from being declared a pandemic that’s resulted in more than 5.4 million deaths worldwide according to Johns Hopkins University.
The CTA took the conference online in 2021 as COVID-19 hospitalizations were spiking around the world and vaccines weren’t yet widely available.
The trade group announced eight months ago it was ready to come back to Nevada in 2022 but would offer options for remote participants to see some of it virtually.
Those who do travel to CES are required to show they are fully vaccinated and will be given a COVID-19 test kit. Masks are required inside.
“CES is maybe the most significant event economically of the year in terms of conventions,” said Alan Feldman, a former casino executive who is a fellow at the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Even a significantly reduced event will be “something to look forward to” for local hotels, restaurants, casinos, retailers and entertainment crews, Feldman said.
With a smaller audience and the same sprawling footprint occupied by some 2,000 exhibitors, and a desire to keep people distanced, the CTA’s Foster said the “main change for people” will be more empty space and wider aisles.