January’s Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show had record attendance of 61,000 people, and the owner of the annual firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry event has signed a three-year contract extension to have the show in Las Vegas through 2015.
Representatives of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, owner of the SHOT Show, said this year’s event, which ran Jan. 17-20 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, also had a record 36,383 buyers in attendance and 2,466 registered media.
The foundation announced in advance that it was reducing the size of the show to better accommodate attendees, but the show still had 1,600 exhibitors with booths covering 630,000 square feet.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had estimated that 45,000 people would attend the SHOT Show based on early projections. In 2011, it was ranked the seventh largest trade show by attendance in Las Vegas.
Eric Bello, vice president of sales for Las Vegas Sands, the parent company of the Sands Expo Center and the Venetian and Palazzo hotels, said his company had record in-suite dining revenue during the SHOT Show, and the property’s retail outlets “did extremely well.”
The 2013 show is scheduled Jan. 15-18.