Religious conventioneers help city's struggling industry

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As the Atlanta region's $11 billion convention and trade show industry wallowed through a difficult economy, there was one bright sign this year: Religious events held their own.

During a year marked by canceled events, vacant hotels rooms and idle restaurant tables, religious gatherings -- which normally rank behind business meetings and trade shows in importance to the metro area's convention industry -- maintained and in some cases increased attendance.

The annual Eucharistic Congress put on by the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta attracted more than 30,000 worshipers in June, which is 10,000 more than the event drew in 2008.

Denise Cole, the director of sales at the Georgia International Convention Center, said it played host to 10 religious conventions this year, which is the same as last.

"They have not increased, but they haven't decreased," she said.

From College Park to the Georgia World Congress Center and the Gwinnett Arena, the faithful heeded the call to their causes.

Meanwhile, attendance at secular meetings dropped as much as 20 percent, and some groups canceled their gatherings altogether. Duluth-based Primerica Financial Services called off an event that was to bring 40,000 attendees to the GWCC this year.

The GWCC, the region's largest facility, predicts a loss of about $5.6 million in fiscal year 2010, which began July 1, in part because of lower attendance. Ripple effects have left Atlanta's hotels with empty rooms and restaurants with fewer customers. The GWCC predicts a better fiscal 2011 with losses of $1.6 million.

While overall numbers are down, the GWCC's attendance was substantially up at religious events. The convention center reports that 65,565 people came to religious events, up from 22,436 in 2008 and 57,204 in 2007. Part of the bump came from a church that has rented a small space every week for Sunday services.

Pattsie Rand, the director of sales and marketing at the GWCC, said it is hard to draw conclusions about why the faith-driven crowd continues to show, but those helping organize the conventions have an answer.

Brad Lomenick, the director of the Atlanta-based evangelical Christian organization Catalyst, said attendees have a sense of belonging and are making value choices. They continue coming to the events most important in their lives. For the faithful, those are religious events.

"People feel they are part of a network or a tribe," Lomenick said.

More than 13,000 Catalyst "tribe" members sold out the Gwinnett Arena in October for three days of seminars on ministry preparation and leadership. That is about the same as last year. The sell-out was a relief for Lomenick. At the beginning of 2009, initial sign-ups were slow.

"We were watching a lot of other events and conferences that were really struggling in terms of 50 percent down in usual attendance," he said.

The numbers for Catalyst began to pick up in June.

Abbey Harwell, the communications and technology marketing manager at the Cobb County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said it booked seven religious events in 2009, about the same as last year. However, the total number of attendees was 4,300, up by more than 1,000 from 2008.

"As we are in this economic downturn, I think a lot of people seek out religion a little more than they may have in the past," she said.

Early 2010 has continuing good news on the horizon.

Passion Conference, which could draw up to 22,000 younger Christians to Philips Arena and the GWCC, is booked for three days in early January. The International Forum on Christian Higher Education will bring about 1,300 college and school administrators to Atlanta for three days in February.

Cheryl Bell, director of events for Passion Conference, agreed with Lomenick that people are sticking to events they have deep a personal stake in.

"And being in the Bible Belt, there is definitely a synergy in Atlanta," she added. "And being in Atlanta in January is better than being in Chicago because of the weather."