Atlanta hopes to lure industries getting federal aid

By LEON STAFFORD

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

To fill the Georgia World Congress Center in the future, Atlanta hospitality leaders are taking their cues from the moves being made by the federal government Monday.

The Atlanta leaders are going after associations and groups that represent alternative energy and transportation, two industries the Obama administration is pouring billions of tax dollars into to stimulate the economy.

The officials think these industries have strong growth potential and could bring thousands of conventioneers to the city, much like the technology category did in the late ’90s tech boom.

“Some of this is following the money to see where the government is investing,” said William Pate, president of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, the city’s main tourism organ. “If we can get these meetings early and get them on a rotation, those shows are only going to grow.”

It’s an important strategy. Convention attendance has plunged during the past couple of years as businesses and workers have cut back on travel. Fewer attendees mean fewer booths set up to reach them, which reduces the need for floor space, a strong revenue stream for convention centers.

And in Atlanta, that could prove dire. Hospitality is an $11.4 billion industry in metro Atlanta, with much of that revenue coming from big meetings and trade shows at the GWCC, the nation’s fourth-largest convention facility.

But competition from the increasing number of convention facilities under construction around the country and stagnant growth in many traditional meeting segments like manufacturing and retail are forcing Atlanta and other cities to seek new business. GWCC officials anticipate being more than $5 million in the red in fiscal 2010 — which began July 1 — but returning to profitability in the years afterward.

“You’ve got to peek under rock and go after every piece of business with potential,” said Tim Mescon, president of Columbus State University. “I commend them because there is risk in not making bold moves right now. If you look at the magnitude of [the GWCC], they don’t have a choice.”

Atlanta is in the running for the 2012 meeting of the Windpower Conference and Exhibits, run by the American Wind Energy Association. The group, which met this past May in Chicago brought out 23,000 attendees and 1,280 exhibitors. It was named one of the nation’s fastest-growing conventions by Tradeshow magazine based on three years of continued growth.

Convention centers across the country have shown a noticeable uptick in interest in hosting the show over the past three years, said Lori Rugh, AWEA director of marketing and sales. Meetings planners are dropping e-mails, inviting the group’s officials to meet with them or showing up at AWEA conventions.

But the traditional ways a city wins business — touting great restaurants, plentiful leisure activities and low costs — won’t be enough, she said.

“We look beyond the space, the hotels and rack rates,” Rugh said. “We look at how many buildings are LEED-certified, how much the center recycles and what the city is doing to encourage renewables.”

That’s a pitch Atlanta thinks it can meet. The city is a green leader, with dozens of LEED-certified buildings.

“Atlanta is looking very favorable right now for a lot of reasons,” Rugh said.

Mark Zimmerman, general manager for Congress Center, said there is another revenue generator Atlanta will go after: government meetings. He said government meeting planners are looking for places where people come to work, not play, and Atlanta has long been a city built on a laser focus on business.

“I understand they are trying to stay away from pricey resorts and gambling,” he said.