While still known for gaming, skiing, and the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe, the Reno-Tahoe area is rapidly turning into a high-tech industry hub that has the potential to remake the destination and its meetings business.
While electric car maker Tesla's new $5 billion battery Gigafactory is taking most of the headlines, it is not the only high tech industry that turning the Reno area into a high-tech hub.
The burgeoning drone industry has also been transforming the Reno-Tahoe area since the Federal Aviation Administration selected it as one of six designated drone-testing areas in the United States. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval promptly declared 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.
To that end, the state recently funded the creation of the Nevada Advanced Autonomous Systems Innovation Center, or NAASIC, at the University of Nevada's Reno campus. Along with drones, it is a center for the development of driverless cars, underwater robots, and advanced manufacturing systems that use robotics.
"Being a high tech boomtown has certainly helped Reno Tahoe gain some significant national exposure," 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 many more 21st century industries moving to our region. Tesla is just one of a long list of famous companies coming to the region recently."
Other ways the region has embraced drones is with the creation of a private, indoor-outdoor drone racing facility -- The Drone Store -- and the inclusion of micro drone racing events at the well-known 2016 Reno Air Show. The University of Nevada is working on drones for search-and-rescue, while local companies like Reno-based AboveNV, which uses drones for aerial mapping and photography.
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."
With more than 50,000 new tech jobs expected to come to the Reno-Tahoe area in the next five years, "corporate meetings should continue ramping up," Baum says, noting that the destination is just a three-hour drive from Silicon Valley. "We are already talking to many scientific and engineering associations that see our region as one of the newest high tech towns in America, and a perfect place to host a convention on the western rotation pattern. Business travel is booming.