Indianapolis and Kansas City, a metro area with feet in both Missouri and Kansas, are not only similar demographically, but
the cities' convention and tourism trades have some measures in common, like number of annual visitors.
An agreement with the International Motorsports Industry Show will keep it in the city indefinitely. Attendance for the three-day
December convention is expected to top 20,000.
The victims from three shootings Saturday night in a downtown crowded with visitors for Indiana Black Expo were reported to
be in good condition on Sunday. Eight were shot in the initial round of gunfire near Circle Centre mall.
The three simultaneous gatherings are expected to draw about 600 scientists and researchers from some 30 countries to the
West Lafayette campus from July 12-15.
The four-day events in 2014 and 2019 are expected to draw about 7,000 attendees each and fill a total of more than 20,000
room nights, likely ranking among the city’s 25 largest conventions each year.
Jamfest Cheer Super Nationals will be held in Indianapolis through 2015. The competition is one of the city’s largest annual
gatherings, attracting about 20,000 cheerleaders and spectators.
The project will create an event-friendly corridor from the expanded Indiana Convention Center to Conseco Fieldhouse.
Hotel occupancy rates in the last two years have plunged nationally and locally to levels not seen in decades, putting a number
of hotels at or near the financial breaking point. But relief finally appears to be on the way.
Designers of a walkway that connects the buildings are making the experience as attractive as possible in order to overcome
the psychological barrier of moving from one building to another.
Attracting the meeting is a coup for Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association officials who are trying to pull in
more health-related events.
Executives of Gen Con, one of the city's largest conventions, visited Indianapolis last week to get their first glance
of the construction of the Indiana Convention Center expansion. Local tourism officials are using such tours to market the
larger space.
The 1,000-room J.W. Marriott isn’t even finished and support already is emerging for a second downtown hotel that
would rival it in size.
Once considered a destination only eight months of the year, Indianapolis—with its compact downtown and indoor walkways—is
emerging as a convention powerhouse even during cold weather.
A side-by-side look at infrastructure and visitor numbers.
The Fairfield Inn & Suites on West Washington Street downtown will open Wednesday. The hotel is the first of four comprising
the 1,600-room Marriott Place project to welcome guests.
Groups that committed in 2009 to hold meetings in Indianapolis in future years booked a total of nearly 688,000 hotel-room
nights, a number that exceeded ICVA’s goal by 5 percent.
The Performance Racing Industry Show has set its 2010 dates for Dec. 9-11. That means the International Motorsports Industry
Show held in Indianapolis will have Dec. 1-3 to itself.
The project will nearly double the convention center’s size and put Indianapolis 16th among U.S. cities in convention space.
The show held in Indianapolis Dec. 3-4 is picking up speed much faster than event organizers and local
convention and tourism officials expected. But the nation’s biggest motorsports trade show, Performance
Racing Industry Show, is considering competing with the local show head-on in 2010.
Indianapolis was up against Dallas, Las Vegas, Orlando, Atlanta and New Orleans to host baseball’s Winter
Meetings, which
will draw more than 200 media members from the nation’s top 30 markets.
