Travel Industry Association outlook forum necessarily become more productive as consequence? Thus, an all-inclusive measurement device may remain elusive.
The great lure of convention business and its multiplier, or secondary spending sparked intense competition between cities especially in the United States beginning in early 1990s between 1990 and 1997 exhibition hall space in the United States rose 19 percent and then increased by another 25 percent from that point through 2004 meanwhile led by computer and technology trade shows attendance initially rose but then dropped almost steadily after 1996 so that the number of convention visitors only managed to increase by 5 percent over the full 15-year span compared to the nearly 50 percent jump in available capacity. Although technological advances in and the cost-saving characteristics of teleconferencing Webcasting or videoconferencing have probably played a role in limiting smaller business meetings their impact on convention numbers and attendance is probably negligible. Perhaps the more stringent meeting justification criteria (ROI) have played a part in limiting the number of events and attendance or maybe the soft economic conditions of the of events and attendance or maybe the soft economic conditions of the 2000 to 2003 period was a negative. Whatever the reason this supply-demand imbalance has led to an overabundance of convention space and deep dis counting by the convention hall operators has been the result. The over building has cast doubt on the efficacy of future expansion projects even while about 40 cities added another 10 percent to convention center capacity beginning in 2005.
Apparently cities persist in believing that the upside of attracting out-of-town visitors outweighs the downside of reduced convention occupancy levels because of the flow of revenue to hotels restaurants and visitor attractions and thus must maintain competitive facilities. In New York City for example convention delegates average $362 in daily spending compared to just $75 for day-trippers who might be coming in from nearby outlying areas for a museum or Broadway show. Hence even though there were fewer attendees at public trade shows and conventions in 2004 compared to that of the prior year public money continues to be appropriated to expand and modernize facilities with a rationalization that unless convention destination cities remain competitive even greater potential losses become probable. In mid-2005 eleven North American cities-Vancouver BC Washington DC Denver CO Omaha NE Chicago IL St. Louis MO Myrtle Beach SC Houston and Austin TX Sacramento CA and Overland Park KS-had recently completed locally sponsored tax-exempt financing for convention center headquarters hotels.
Until Hurricane Katrina severely damaged New Orleans in August 2005 it was one of the top five sites in the United States. Table 12.2 shows the ranking with Las Vegas on top with more than two meetings for every one held in Chicago and Orlando. New York and new Orleans were not far behind This was despite the poll shown in Figure 12.1 which indicated that San Diego was the convention city most preferred by planners.
Convention centers are publicly or privately owned with the former ae counting for almost two-thirds of the total and generally larger in capacity