Salt Lake convention numbers are hanging in there
Salt Lake County's convention business is being hit by the recession, but a turnaround could be right around the corner.
While the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau is predicting a 6 percent to 7 percent decrease in the number of convention visitors this year from what it once predicted — continuing a trend that started last summer — the bureau is coming off its second-best year for booking future conventions.
Scott Beck, president and chief executive officer of the bureau, said 2008 was a year of "great optimism."
"When we started out the year, it was a very different picture than where we ended the year," Beck said Wednesday. "We still, even with beginning of the bad news of the economy and with all of the pessimism that started to come out in July and August, we still continued to have very strong success."
The bureau last year booked conventions with 210,784 delegates for future years, topping the 210,784 booking figure a year earlier. Only a pre-Olympics year was better. Room nights booked for future years was 398,596, up from 353,795 in 2007.
"Just our ability to get people to commit to Salt Lake, even in a time when there was not a lot economic security, was a real powerful statement for us on the confidence people have in Salt lake and relevance of our product at a time when value is very important for people.
"We left the year with a great sense of optimism and frankly that has continued on. We beat January. Our January booking numbers are better than last January and February looks to be equally as strong. Even though corporate travel is down and there is obviously some economic uncertainty right now, the future looks very bright."
Still, convention visitorship and room bookings were off last year, compared with 2007. The number of convention delegates coming to Salt Lake County fell from 302,473 to 273,974, delegate room nights dropped from 392,614 to 329,698, and delegate spending slipped from $264.4 million to $243.6 million. Overall county visitor spending decreased from more than $1 billion in 2007 to $952.3 million last year.
"We began to notice smaller attendance, less corporate travel and smaller exhibitor room blocks sometime around June or July last year, and by the end of the fourth quarter, after (people saw) the reality of how deep this recession was going to go, we began to see those numbers trail off," Beck said.
Comments
- Mexican consulate in SLC dies 1:47 p.m.
- eBay fined for selling perfumes 1:46 p.m.
- Debate opens on health care bill 1:44 p.m.
- Man arrested in screwdriver assault 1:42 p.m.
- Police seek man in underwear thefts 1:42 p.m.
- 5 injured in past week near Moab 1:41 p.m.
- Beach dispute heading to high court 1:40 p.m.
- Retrial in paraplegic murder case 1:39 p.m.
- Court hears Vioxx arguments 1:38 p.m.
- High court won't hear speech suit 1:37 p.m.
- Hall mouths off about hate of Utah
888 - Cougars beat Utes in overtime
480 - Max Hall issues apology
352 - Hall's pain reflects self-betrayal
228 - BYU is champion of the state
140 - Man trapped in Nutty Putty cave dies
120 - Cave to be sealed with body inside
116 - Utes won't respond to Hall
112 - Hall reprimanded by MWC
94 - Rivalry Week is highly profane
91
If you wait until Cyber Monday to shop, you may miss some hot deals.
Congratulations to Max and the second place MWC finish. Good Luck on the...
Please, Tina. You want a team with honor to play in your bowl. The Utes are...
Reprimand or not, the score was still 26-23. Go BYU!!!
is class on and off the field, unlike Max Hall.
POOR TENDERED FEELING HYPOCRITICAL UTES: You would be loving it if you had...
As for Max as a QB — he doesn’t seem to do well under real...
In an era of so-called political correctness and sensitivity, Hall shouldn't...
CTR .. choose to RANT .. typical BYU
I agree that sometimes animal experimentation is used too casually. But...
12:14 p.m. This wasn't a "what if" scenario. You sound oblivious to the...


You can be the first to comment on this story.