Tradeshow Attendance Slips, But Convention Construction Climbs

According to a study from the Brookings Institute, tradeshow attendance is on the decline, but that doesn't seem to be stopping developers. “Space Available: The Realities of Convention Centers as Economic Development Strategy” reports that tradeshow attendance fell 16% from 2000 to 2003. Despite these numbers, though, almost 6.8 million square feet of new exhibition space will be built in North America over the next few years — including renovation projects at the Jacob Javits Center in New York and McCormick Place in Chicago.