Hub ranks 18th as meeting
host
Industry
officials say list omits trade shows
The authority is seeking a $2
billion expansion of the South Boston facility.
When it comes to hosting corporate
meetings, Boston ranks 18th among cities across the country, according to a
survey to be released Thursday.
Orlando topped the list, compiled by
the event management software firm Cvent Inc., followed by Washington, D.C.,
Las Vegas, Miami, and Chicago.
Boston hosted more than 2,000
corporate meetings and conferences in the past 12 months, with an average of
200 to 300 attendees each, according to Cvent. That activity generated 750,000
hotel room nights. many of the meetings were held at hotels around the city,
and some of them were at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the
Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center.
The bulk of business at the South
Boston convention center and the Hynes comes from industry trade shows and
conventions that use exhibit space. Large corporate meetings with 1,000 or more
attendees make up only 5 to 10 percent of the annual events at these two
facilities, in addition to a number of smaller corporate meetings, according to
the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.
“The MCCA generates a significant
amount of our business from associations and trade show groups, which were not
included when these rankings were compiled,” James Rooney, executive director
of the convention authority, said of the list. “When these larger shows are
included, Boston easily ranks in the top 10 meeting destinations in the United
States, proof positive we need to expand to make Boston an even greater
international destination for conventions and meetings.”
Boston ranked eighth last year in
major trade shows, tied with San Francisco and Anaheim, Calif., at seven shows
apiece, according to Trade Show News Network, an online industry resource.
Boston was 10th in 2010. Las Vegas had the most major trade shows of any city
last year, with 55, followed by Orlando at 26 and Chicago with 21.
The rankings are based on the number
of the top 250 trade shows each city attracts.
The convention center authority is
seeking a $2 billion expansion of the South Boston facility that would double
the amount of exhibition space to 1 million square feet.
Rachel Wimberly, editor in chief of
the Trade Show News Network, said Boston needs to expand its convention center
if it hopes to become a major player.
“In order for any city to attract
more business and be ranked with the trade show heavyweights like Las Vegas,
Chicago, and Orlando, the convention center would have to be of a certain size,
so it only makes sense that Boston would need to expand,” Wimberly said. Las
Vegas and Chicago, for example, each have facilities with more than 1 million
square feet in exhibit space.
But others are not convinced that
expansion is necessary.
“I think there needs to be a
transparent, solid case why the current facility isn’t sufficient,” said Lisa
Petraglia of the Economic Development Research Group, a research and consulting
firm in Boston. “If the need is to build hotels, then build hotels. Don’t
expand the convention center.”
This is the first year Cvent, based
in McLean, Va., has issued a ranking, based on more than 100,000 meetings and
conferences booked through Cvent’s system in the past year. The findings were compiled
based on the number of hotel room nights generated, the number and value of
meeting proposal requests sent, and the economic impact of the meetings booked.
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