CVBs Hope for the Best in 2009

Top U.S. tradeshow destinations deal with obstacles all the time – negative show rotation and competition with one another, to name just two – in their bids to keep attendees coming to shows and conventions in their cities and generating the accompanying economic impact.

But with reports from show managers of struggles with increasing travel hassles, escalating show costs and declining attendance – and even more in the future – what are convention and visitors bureau officials looking for in 2009?

“For us, 2009 is going to be a good year,” said Gary Sain, president and CEO of the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Orlando had the second most shows in the most recent Tradeshow Week 200.

All venues in Orange County were expected to have about 3.8 million attendees for events this year. Sain said the CVB is projecting 1 million meeting-related attendees at events at the Orange County Convention Center next year, close to the number that were there this year for business-related events.

That 2009 projection is for a year when the city won't have The Intl. Builders' Show/NextBuild, which drew 92,098 attendees (not including exhibitors) to the Orange County Convention Center in January. The Natl. Assn. of Home Builders will hold its show Jan. 20-23 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

“Could it be a better year (than currently projected)? I think it can,” Sain said.

A lot depends on what happens with the larger economy.

Orlando, like other top destinations, is facing airline cutbacks, with several major carriers that serve the city, including Delta Air, United, US Airways and AirTran Airways, announcing schedule cuts. However, to be fair, some airlines – JetBlue, Lufthansa and Aer Lingus – are adding Orlando flights to their lineups.

“For us to be basically flat (during bad economic times), ... I think that's a real tribute to the destination,” Sain said.

Chicago, at Orlando's heels with the third most TSW 200 shows, also is seeing flight cuts at its biggest airport, O'Hare Intl. Dallas-based American Airlines, which is cutting its domestic capacity by up to 12 percent, will dump 28 flight departures from the Chicago airport by the end of this year.

Chicago wouldn't release its projected convention attendance numbers for 2009, but Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau spokeswoman Meghan Risch said, “2009 looks to be a very good year for Chicago and McCormick Place, a bit stronger than 2008, especially in terms of the number of citywide events taking place due to the cyclical nature of the industry.”

Even with some fairly large shows returning to Chicago from other cities – NXTcomm is one example – and some stalwarts that are there every year – think the Natl. Restaurant Assn. Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show – the city is facing negative show rotation, with the giant biennials Pack Expo Intl., its 2006 edition No. 2 on the 2007 TSW 200, and Intl. Manufacturing Technology Show, No. 3 on the 2007 TSW 200 for its 2006 show, taking a breather in 2009 and shows like the Natl. Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition, which will be in New Orleans May 16-21, rotating to new locations.

Risch's optimism notwithstanding, this summer, the CCTB unveiled a program to attract more shows during a typically lean time for the northern city – January through March, when snow usually still is falling. Called Chicago Select, it's a toolkit with value pricing on air and ground transportation, hotel accommodations, retail and cultural experiences during the first quarters of 2009, 2010 and 2011.

“American Airlines and our members really stepped up to the plate with value pricing that allows customers to create a customized travel package, complete with services and amenities that they would not otherwise receive,” said Tim Roby, CCTB president and CEO.

Atlanta, like Orlando, also is anticipating minimal growth at best in 2009.

“It will be an OK year,” said Mark Vaughan, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer for the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau.

He added the city is down two anchor groups – defined as those with at least 5,000 sleeping rooms per night – year over year, but has more conventions and tradeshows in the small- to mid-sized range scheduled than in previous years.

“Our forecast for FY (fiscal year) 2010 (which starts in July 2010) reflects this trend to continue, and it would impact our bottom line through a decline in utilities, food and beverage, parking and IT services purchased,” said Mark Geiger, associate director of marketing and communications at the Georgia World Congress Center Authority, of shows at the center.

“We remain optimistic that the economy will rebound in the next 12 to 18 months and our numbers will pick up,” Geiger added. “In the short term, we are looking at booking smaller meetings and events as well as corporate business to make up the difference.”

The Atlanta CVB is helping existing customers with their various marketing efforts and, on a case-by-case basis, with incentives that would, in turn, help the city maintain its No. 5 ranking on the TSW 200, Vaughan said.

He still has something to look forward to even if bookings right now are hurt by the economic downturn: “We bounce right back up in 2010,” Vaughan added. The CVB already is projecting that 2010 will be a better year than 2009. In 2010, the Natl. Business Aviation Assn. Annual Meeting & Convention, No. 10 on the most recent TSW 200, returns to the Georgia World Congress Center. It last was held in Atlanta in 2007, when the show attracted 32,052 people, including exhibitors.

New York City, ranked No. 4 by number of TSW 200 shows, has struggled for years to find enough space to accommodate some of its largest clients. That struggle has been exacerbated by the on-again, off-again nature of an expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center of New York.

Now, though, there is a planned expansion of Pier 94 that will add 215,000 square feet of exhibit space to the existing 140,000 sq. ft. Starting in February, the pier, also known as The UnConvention Center, will be managed by Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. instead of ENK Intl., which has held the contract since 1994.

Chris Heywood, spokesman for NYC & Company, the city's convention and visitors bureau, said there is anecdotal evidence that the Javits Center is turning away business and that hotels, thanks to a robust tourist season, are operating at about 85 percent occupancy with an average room rate of about $300 per night. He said he expects the same in 2009.

According to NYC & Company's Tourism Barometer in May, 29 events had been staged at Javits year to date, compared with 32 in the same period in 2007. Total attendance year to date was 1.33 million in May this year, compared with 1.41 million in 2007.

The preliminary number for total attendance at events in 2007 was 3.9 million.

At the recent New York Intl. Gift Fair, one of New York's largest tradeshows, George Little Management, a dmg world media business that owns the show, said attendance was on par with August 2007 numbers, when the show reported 35,962 attendees.

The city did receive a recent blow, though, when Ziff Davis Media canceled this year's edition of DigitalLife, scheduled Sept. 25-28. The company is considering a reprisal of the show in 2009, but Paul O'Reilly, vice president of Ziff Davis' event marketing group, has told TSW that New York might not be the location.

DigitalLife, which was open to the public, attracted 50,000 attendees in 2007.

Las Vegas – by far, the No. 1 tradeshow destination on the TSW 200 – also has been plagued lately with economic issues, though there's been no slowdown in the number of shows being held there.

On top of US Airways cutting daily departures from 141 in September 2007 to 74 by the end of this year, several major resort-convention center construction projects have been postponed because of economic woes, including Boyd Gaming's Echelon and the fourth building of the World Market Center.

Convention attendance was up slightly year to date, according to the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority's June Executive Summary, with nearly 3.7 million convention visitors flocking to Las Vegas from the beginning of 2008 through the end of June, compared with 3.69 million visitors in the same time frame in 2007.

“So far, we've matched convention attendance overall,” said Kevin Bagger, LVCVA research director.

Factored into that slight increase is the mega triennial CONEXPO-CON/AGG, which made its way to Las Vegas March 11-15 with its 111,273 professional attendees and exhibiting personnel from 2,184 firms, but won't be in the city again until 2011. The city also hosted InfoComm Intl. and its more than 20,000 attendees June 18-20.

Bagger said the LVCVA doesn't predict convention attendance numbers because of the booking windows for smaller tradeshows and meetings.

Now, if only Las Vegas could get those attendees to gamble just a little more – gaming revenue was down $277.7 million, or 5.1 percent, in Clark County for the same period.

But, with some corporations and show managers waiting until very late in the game to book their needed space, those numbers could bounce a little higher in the coming months for all the cities.

Plus, Orlando's Sain said, the economy could improve.

But, “for all destinations, ... I think it's going to be one of those challenging years,” he added.