The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), whose 2023 edition starts today, kicks off the trade show season each year in Las Vegas. It was one of the lucky ones in 2020 as the show took place before the pandemic took hold, and many in the events industry looked to the show’s strategy and performance in 2021 (when it was fully virtual) and in 2022 as a sort of benchmark for what events could expect in the coming year.
Last year’s edition took place in the midst of the Omicron wave, and attendance (around 45,000) was drastically reduced compared to the last “normal” show in 2020 (around 171,000). Organizers have predicted that around 100,000 people will visit this year’s event, which an encouraging improvement over last year, but it still doesn’t represent a full return to form.
However, lower attendance doesn’t mean a less successful show — in contrast, many attendees have found connections and business opportunities to be more valuable at events during the pandemic as experiences can be more personalized and the proportion of decision makers in attendance has generally been higher.
Notably, CES 2023 is also implementing new Covid restrictions, which most events have forgone since the end of the Omicron wave at the beginning of last year. Following weeks of protests against its zero-Covid policy and strict lockdowns, China recently loosened its restrictions, prompting fears of widespread outbreaks as the virus is allowed to spread throughout a relatively vulnerable population.
This, of course, is also cause for concern for the rest of the world as people travel into and out of China in larger numbers. As of today, the US began imposing Covid testing protocols for incoming travelers from China, Hong Kong, and Macau, and CES implemented its own restrictions to account for travelers who arrived in the US in the days before the federal regulation went into effect.
The show is requiring that attendees and exhibitors who traveled from these areas and arrived in the US between January 1st and 4th also provide proof of a negative Covid test, taken no more than 48 hours prior, at badge pickup. For those who were unable to test before traveling, testing is available throughout the week at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Now that the federal protocols are in effect, it’s unlikely that upcoming events will re-impose their own restrictions, but the industry will certainly be keeping an eye on the potential fallout of China’s reopening to the world.