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Orlando’s MICE outlook is smoking
Buoyed by everyone from cigar smokers to the plastic industry, Orlando’s convention industry expects a boost in total attendance this year for the area perhaps best-known for its family-oriented theme parks.
The Orange County Convention Center has so far booked 114 events for 2012, compared with 173 total events last year. The giant center’s projected attendance: 1.4 million people, a 16 percent increase from 2011.
"I think we’re in great shape. We have a lot of new shows coming in," Tom Ackert, the center’s executive director, told the Orlando Sentinel. "2012 may be a real banner year for us."
Among the new shows: NPE, the International Plastics Showcase, slated for April.
That trade show, held in Chicago for decades, is expected to attract 49,000 people in its first Orlando year. Ackert said the exhibition, which requires the installation of heavy machinery, could encourage other industrial-oriented shows to consider Orlando.
The once-mammoth International Builders’ Show returns in February. Once capable of drawing more than 100,000 people, it was slammed by the housing slump and expects about half that number this year, according to the newspaper.
Also on tap for the center this year: the NBA All-Star Jam Session, which may draw thousands of basketball fans in February when the NBA All-Star Game is in town. The American Psychological Association, with 13,000 medical professionals, and International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers, which is moving to Orlando from Las Vegas, are both scheduled for August — usually a slow time for conventions.
As with medical groups, the cigar aficionados are a coveted crowd. "The folks who attend cigar shows are not going to be conservative spenders," Ackert said.
By David Wilkening
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