While still known for gaming, skiing, and the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe, the Reno-Tahoe area is turning into a high-tech industry hub that has the potential to remake the destination and its meetings business.
The big news in Reno is electric car-maker Tesla's decision to select the northern Nevada city as the site of its potentially industry-changing, $5 billion auto battery factory. Work on the plant, which Tesla says will create a new generation of cheaper auto and home batteries, is well underway.
"Being a high-tech boomtown has helped Reno- Tahoe gain some significant national exposure, with Tesla's 10 million-square-foot 'gigafactory' just one of a long list of famous companies coming to the region," says Christopher Baum, president and CEO of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA). "Our new 'Positively Electric' marketing campaign is one way we are leveraging the presence of firms like Amazon, Apple, Switch, the drone industry, and other 21st-century industries moving to our region."
This tech industry boom has the potential to help improve an already strong meetings industry in the region, Baum adds, noting that the RSCVA just enjoyed its "best booking year in over five years." He adds, "average group size is up considerably and 60 percent of all definite bookings are new business for northern Nevada."
The drone industry Baum mentioned is another factor that has the potential to substantially expand the Reno-Tahoe area's growth as a tech hub. Selected as one of six designated drone-testing areas by the Federal Aviation Administration, Governor Brian Sandoval has stated his intention to make Reno a national center of research and development of drone technology, which is expected to swell into an $11 billion industry with 70,000 high-paying jobs, according to the Governor's Office of Economic Development.
Questions or comments? Email [email protected]
This article appears in the October 2015 issue of Successful Meetings.