San Diego Convention Center
By Joanne DiBona
A few weeks ago, the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau released statistics for the first quarter of 2002, which compares visitor activity from January through March of this year with the same period last year.
Not surprisingly, the first quarter 2002 figures reflected the general downturn in tourism felt worldwide after the terrorist attacks of 9-11. In almost every category, it was easy to see the effects of the decline in leisure travel, especially compared to the level of activity in 2001, when San Diego tourism was breaking all records.
There was, however, one very bright spot in an otherwise lackluster first quarter of 2002: business at the San Diego Convention Center. Delegate attendance jumped a hefty +9.3 percent in the first quarter or the year and delegate expenditures reflected a whopping +14.5 % increase.
It’s rather ironic that the one project that caused so much public debate just a few years ago has now become an economic success story for San Diego.
The convention center expansion could not have come at a better time. By doubling the exhibit space available to convention groups, San Diego was finally able to tap into a convention market that was formerly out of reach. This new market is infusing our local economy with millions of dollars—dollars that would not have been spent here had it not been for the center’s expansion.
For years, we had been hearing from convention planners that their groups would love to consider San Diego as a convention site, but our center was simply not big enough to accommodate the larger conventions that dominate the market. No sooner did the expansion open its doors for business than the halls began to buzz with activity. The paint wasn’t even dry on the walls before groups started to pour into the new space, eager to finally hold their convention in one of the nation’s most sought-after meeting locations.
The expansion also makes it feasible to book two or more conventions simultaneously in the center, even when move-in and out dates overlap. In the past, a group could only move into the exhibit space once the hall was completely vacated, but the additional space now allows for more creative booking options.
We are also now in the position to attract a greater market share of trade shows and consumer shows (such as the popular auto and boat shows) that would never have been able to hold their ever-expanding exhibits in San Diego without the additional square footage.
Despite the fact that our expanded center is the 20th largest in the nation, we already have earned the distinction of being among the top ten most active centers in the country. According to a recent report by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, 16 cities hosted nearly half of all exhibitions in North America with San Diego ranking ninth, beating out the centers in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Anaheim, and Boston.
This summer will see more delegates at the convention center than ever before. Between June 1 and September 30, a record-breaking 18 convention and trade shows will generate an all time high of $234 million in economic benefits for the San Diego region during the summer months. This is a 57% increase in business over the same period last year. Six of the summer conventions coming to San Diego are groups that had outgrown the original building but are now anxious to return and spend their convention dollars in our region.
San Diego is also attracting more medical conventions than ever before. The convention center has booked 40 medical-related shows through 2003 and is quickly becoming one of the largest medical meeting hubs in the United States. Because of their economic resilience and steady growth, medical meetings are one of the most sought-after markets in the convention business.
The convention and meetings business will continue to buoy San Diego’s economy well into the years ahead. FY2003 will be a record-breaking year in every category for the center with 111 events already on the books and six months of booking time still ahead. Projected direct delegate spending for FY03 is $417 million, a 24% increase over 2002 spending and the highest spending figure in convention center history.
The NFL is also looking forward to utilizing the new, expanded center for many of the corporate and public events that will be held during Super Bowl week in January 2003. To date, 71,524 hotel room nights have been booked due to the Super Bowl-- an 11.7% increase over the bookings made during this same period for the 1998 game.
There is no doubt that the San Diego Convention Center will continue to serve as a powerful economic engine for our region in a time when it is more critical than ever before. The appreciable business it will generate this summer and in future years will help buoy our visitor industry as we struggle along with the rest of the nation to return to pre-9/11 tourism levels.
