It’s tough in the exhibition market space and the big convention cities are being hit hard by severe dips in events and attendance figures.
Our own city of Chicago saw its 2009 attendance figures for McCormick Place conventions and trade shows dropping by almost 7% last year, according to reports in the Chicago Tribune.
But that’s nothing compared to the hits being experienced in Las Vegas and Florida.
While visitor numbers for McCormick Place stood at 893,068 in 2009, the Las Vegas Convention Center suffered a 30% nosedive last year to 1.1 million attendees while the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando dipped 21% to 781,740. Chicago was the only one of the three to see a rise in the number of events.
It seems that Chicago’s perception as business-oriented venue did the city some good. Both the Las Vegas and Orlando venues said the economy was the leading reason why the numbers were down, along with a reluctance in corporate America to host their events in resort locations.
The question now is whether Chicago can continue to get off so lightly in the cut-throat exhibition market during 2010? Not likely, seems to be the consensus.
Attracting shows to your city requires a serious amount of cash. Thanks to the ching-ching of slot machines in Vegas, the city has a healthy marketing budget of $143 million and Florida has $47 million. The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau on the other hand has just under $14 million. Even tougher times ahead for the Windy City .
Via Chicago Tribune
Perhaps urban regeneration using the arts with new technology or just going hard and getting bums on seats is the answer . j
Those are some big numbers I would say.
But is there anything effective that can be done to recover (or protect yourself) from economy influences like that except waiting the economy to recover on its own?
Kind regards, Denis.