EDITORIAL: CONEXPO debuts - from micro to massive

Visitors to Las Vegas are down. According to a year-to-date summary released by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the number of people who visited the desert city through November 2025 was down 7.4% compared to 2024. Convention attendance was also lower in 2025 compared to the previous year. Many outlets report that a big reason for the drop is fewer international tourists - particularly from Canada - due to U.S. trade policies.

The word from some fellow journalists who attended CES in early January is that this trend is continuing into 2026. Jack Roberts of Heavy-Duty Trucking wrote, “I've never seen the city as empty and listless as it was during my time there this year… And the show floor at CES - while still crowded - was noticeably less jam-packed than past years.”