Economic development.

• Author: Sanders, Heywood T.
• Position: From the Library - Excerpt from Economic Development Quarterly, conference industry - Excerpt

"Convention Myths and Markets: A Critical Review of Convention Center Feasibility Studies"

Heywood T. Sanders

Economic Development Quarterly, August 2002, pp. 195-210.

In this paper, Dr. Sanders asserts that many of the convention center feasibility and market studies that have been conducted for cities across the United States have been "consistently flawed and misleading." Examining the source data used in more than 30 studies, Sanders disputes the common assertion that there is a pattern of regular annual growth in the convention industry. He finds that convention attendance "has not followed a growth trajectory at all, remaining largely flat from 1995 to 1999 and then showing a decline in 2001 to the attendance level of 1990. Over a decade characterized by substantial economic growth, event counts and total attendance have been remarkably flat." In spite of this, Sanders notes, cities continue to build and expand, with an estimated 16.4 million square feet of new exhibit space expected by 2005. The author then proceeds to examine the validity of claims that successful convention centers must expand to remain competitive. He found that...