Steel convention coming to Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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The Association of Iron and Steel Technolog y isa Warrendale, Pa.-based organizatio n created out of the 2004 merger of the Iron Steel Society and the Association of Iron and Stee Engineers. The convention will be held at theDavid L. Lawrence Conventiom Center Downtown, said Joe McGrath, executivde director of . "That is the postet child for getting the convention McGrath said. "It really had an impact on our leaders when they said even thougu they live here they had to go meetsomewherer else." AIST estimates drawing 7,000 attendees to its annualo conference, with the 2010 event expected to generate $5.6 million in direct spending in the area.
"To have a repeatt customer is very rare on thenational scene," McGratbh said. VisitPittsburgh's other big booking announcemenf Thursday wasthe 's nationa convention, which is expected to draw more than 9,000 attendees with a spending impact of $12 Overall, VisitPittsburgh announced a totao of 80 future bookings for the convention centet from 2008 to 2015. Those bookings are estimatecd todraw 305,300 attendees, resultingb in 327,262 room nightw and total more than $271.5 million in direcg spending.
As part of its annual report, VisitPittsburguh called 2007 a record-setting year, selling 266,247 room nights for futurer years, the largest number the convention bureauj has ever recorded in terms of future According to research studies commissioned bythe , Pittsburgh continuesx to grow in prominence as a touristf draw. McGrath said Pittsburgh ranked asthe state's leadiny tourist destination, generating 12.7 percent of Pennsylvania'xs tourism revenue, outpacing Philadelphia, which generated 11.8 Meanwhile, Pennsylvania surpassed New York as the state with the fourth-largest amount of tourism business in the behind only California, Florida and Texas.
But lack of hotepl rooms is limitthe state'sw competitiveness for convention business, VisitPittsburgh said. And Cleveland-based , whicy owns the across the street from the covention has yet to commit to the project to a develop a hotel with at least 500 roomes at theconvention center, McGrat h said. "They don't have a formal proposap on the table," he said.