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"We're looking at a huge decline," Councilor Debbie O'Malley told the Journal, with Council President Ken Sanchez chipping in to say the trend is "bad for our economy."
"We're looking at a huge decline," Councilor Debbie O'Malley told the Journal, with Council President Ken Sanchez chipping in to say the trend is "bad for our economy."
So let's spend tons of bucks on a new convention center to chase business that isn't
there, anyway...
you don't get to your destination by solely using the rear view mirror to determine where to turn.
And you fail a lot more often when you refuse to look back at how you got to wherever you are.
Until ABQ become far more of a transportation hub then it is, its "pull" as a convention center
will always be limited. It's just too big a pain to get in and out of here from many cities.
Government budgets these days don't have much money to send staff to out of town meetings and conventions. And big business has taken hits lately for sending their employees to fancy conferences. Remember the stink about the one wall street firm sending folks to a boondoggle meeting in Las Vegas during the worst of the financial meltdown (after the feds bailed them out)?
Anybody think that these factors may have a long-term downward impact on the number and scope of conventions and meetings around the country, and that there may not be nearly as many of these in the future? Spending more money to chase a downward trend is a losing proposition.
I have three significant problems with the premise that we are losing convention business because the convention center is somehow insufficient.
rwjoyak mentioned one of them. Is there, or will there be be, sizeable convention business to be had? The article mentioned that conventions appear to be getting smaller in size and many organizations are cutting back on T&E exepnses.
Second, buried in the article was a statement by ACVB that many groups appear to now be booking directly without going through the bureau. So, do we really know what the numbers are and they're accurately comparable? Are the numbers reallly down as mush as the article claims? Let's not go down some expensive road before we know what we're comparing.
Lastly, the ACVB said they'd lost some conventions because large blocks of hotel rooms were not available in the nearby downtown area. Which comes first, more hotel rooms or more conventions?
This issue of a rise or decline in convention business has come up before just after the tech bust. Then things recovered and we were chasing conventions. Now it's down and we're again asking the same question.
In supporting this convention business, one could easily see that ABQ has more competition as cities across the country have invested in fancy new facilities. Even Santa Fe and Las Cruces have jumped in the game. When every city is in the game, certainly they're onto something. So, if we're going to compete, we know that we need more hotel rooms. We also know that our facility has not changed in a couple decades. Does this really require a think tank to figure this out?
Someone said we can't compete because we're not a hub. huh? Even flying into hubs most people still arrive through a connection as only one airline typically serves that hub. Good try, though.
Someone said we can't compete because we're not a hub. huh? Even flying into hubs most people still arrive through a connection as only one airline typically serves that hub. Good try, though.
H-e-l-l-oooooo... Stunningly bad logic there...
Hubs have far more flights and far more connections than ABQ making them far more
convenient and convenience counts.
When we moved here in October 2008, Continental only had two flights a day from
Houston to ABQ and the afternoon flight was a small regional jet. Contrast that with
almost any major convention city.
In supporting this convention business, one could easily see that ABQ has more competition as cities across the country have invested in fancy new facilities. Even Santa Fe and Las Cruces have jumped in the game. When every city is in the game, certainly they're onto something. So, if we're going to compete, we know that we need more hotel rooms. We also know that our facility has not changed in a couple decades. Does this really require a think tank to figure this out?
The question isn't, "Will building a hotel/event center bring in more business?"
The question is, "Will building a hotel/event center even be worth taking money from everyone in the city?" or "Is it the best use of that money?"
Sometimes it isn't smart to do something that everyone else is doing. "Hey look everyone is grabbing a piece of pie. Oh no! The pie is getting smaller and more people are grabbing it it must be really good we have to get a piece!"
I'd rather take a gamble on a new pie that isn't being sliced up so small, maybe it won't be as good, but I'd rather take my chances on a slice of blueberry pie than pay a whole lot of money for a sliver of pumpkin that everyone says is amazing. But that is just me.
Worse case, I can't find any pies that look like they might be good so I will keep my money until later.
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