vol. XVII no. 1

				Southern Hospitality: An Industry on the Move in Atlanta In 1996, the eyes of the world were on the city of Atlanta. As host to the XXVI Summer Olympics, Atlanta took center stage and welcomed more than 10,000 athletes. But perhaps the most important visitors were the more than 15,000 journalists who helped spread the word throughout the world abut the "Crown Jewel of the South." "The Olympics came at a very good time for Atlanta," says Debby Cannon, director of Robinson's Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality. "The nation was starting to come out of a recession and, because of the Olympics, Atlanta was getting a lot of pre-event business." That business helped catapult Atlanta and eventually led the nation out of a recession and into one of the strongest economic recoveries in history. During the latter part of the 1990s, travel and hospitality, a $600 billion industry nationwide representing over 5 percent of the country's total gross domestic product (GDP), was humming, Fast-forward to 2002 — the nation's economy had gone into a recession and the tragic effects of September 11th combined with the pending war in Iraq brought an abrupt end to the "go-go '90s." The hospitality industry was one of the first casualties. Immediately following the terrorist attacks, all travel ceased. In the weeks and months following September 11th, trade shows were either postponed or cancelled, business and consumer travel drastically decreased and hotel occupancy rates plummeted. According to the Travel Industry Association, every city had a similar story to tell about falloff in visitation. And since the industry is a top three employer in 28 states, the downturn caused a great deal of hardship throughout the nation. In Atlanta, the story was also grim: from 2000 to 2002, hotel occupancy rates decreased by more than 7 percent, and in 2003 occupancy rates continued to dwindle. But while the past several years have been tough on the industry, things for 2004 and 2005 are looking up. Once again, Atlanta is leading the way, According to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB), advance bookings for 2004 are up 20 percent compared with the same time last year. And as the national trend pushes toward shorter booking windows, experts predict that the city will see even more business in the coming year. This is good news for the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), the city's main convention center. The GWCC recently completed an expansion that added 42,000 square feet of exhibit space helping it to maintain its ranking as one of the five largest convention centers in the nation. This expansion is estimated to generate $1 billion in economic impact and $5 3 million in new tax revenue, according to the ACVB. The expansion also allows the GWCC to host more mid-sized shows, which according to William Pate, outgoing chairman of the ACVB and Georgia State alumnus, is a national trend in the convention industry "Over the past few years, we've seen a dropoff in attendance the traditional 'super show'-type conventions that traditionally been Atlanta's bread and butter. Now the growth is in mid-sized shows." John Smith, general manager of the GWCC and adjunct professor in the School of Hospitality, says that is exactly why the expansion was so vital to the city's hospitality industry. "With the expansion, we will be able to host more mid-sized shows as well as stagger them during the critical trade show months. This will help minimize downtime for area hotels and keep a consistent stream of visitors coming to Atlanta." Top | Next Page Back to main "A Sign of Four" page.

Copyright © 2004 Robinson College of Business/Georgia State University.