54.3 F
San Diego
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
-Advertisement-

Convention Center Plans for Late 2020 Reopening

Between September and the end of the year, the San Diego Convention Center Corporation has over 30 conferences scheduled to take place.

The smallest in size, the “Career Compass Real Estate Success Training 2020”, is set for Oct. 9 to Oct. 11 and expected to draw 200 attendees. The “American Society of Hematology,” scheduled for Dec. 5 to Dec. 7 and the largest planned for Q4, is expecting 30,000 guests.

Collectively, the total visitor count beginning this fall is projected to reach nearly 150,000.

It is unclear if any if not all of these conventions will happen and to what capacity, as the exact timeline of convention centers reopening in California, as well as restrictions on large group gatherings, depends on state and local jurisdictions.

But, while that is determined, Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe, president and CEO of the San Diego Convention Center, says he is already planning for a late 2020 reopening.

Accreditation

“We are hopeful we’ll be able to reopen late this year,” said Rippetoe, with 226 employees and revenues of $44.8 million in fiscal year 2019. “We are in the process of achieving the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) third party STAR Accreditation for venues through a partnership between the International Association of Venue Managers and the International Sanitary Supply Association. Created by leaders from distinguished health organizations and widely considered to be the industry’s gold standard for third-party validation, GBAC STAR is a performance-based accreditation program that functions as the cleaning industry’s only outbreak prevention, response and recovery accreditation (for facilities). We expect to have this accreditation by the end of the summer.”

According to the GBAC website, the accreditation means: a facility has established and maintained a cleaning, disinfection, and infectious disease prevention program to minimize risks associated with infectious agents like the novel coronavirus; the proper cleaning protocols, disinfection techniques and work practices are in place to combat biohazards and infectious disease; and it has hired highly skilled cleaning professionals who are trained for outbreak and infectious disease preparation and response.

Detailed Guide

The Convention Center has also been developing a detailed guide for its clients that outlines its policies and procedures as they pertain to infection control and prevention, staff protocols, client responsibilities, partners’ protocols and guidelines, and related communications, said Rippetoe. It provides information about cleaning, disinfecting, physical distancing, health monitoring, food and beverage considerations, staff training, PPE standards and other areas of focus to help stop the spread of COVID-19, he said.

“We are currently soliciting feedback on this guide from our clients, partners and local stakeholders,” said Rippetoe. “We expect to publish this document once we have further guidance from the state and local jurisdictions.”

136 Conventions

With a total regional economic impact of $1.3 billion, fiscal year 2019 was a record-breaking year for the San Diego Convention Center. It hosted 143 events that collectively attracted 836,695 attendees.

2020 was on track to be just as successful, according to Rippetoe.

From January through mid-March of this year, the Convention Center hosted 35 events that brought 214,745 people to the city. From mid-March through December 2020, it was slated to host 136 conventions with a regional economic impact of $1.26 billion.

But, between mid-March and September, 74 meetings were canceled or postponed, said Rippetoe. Those events were expected to draw 499,615 people, with 463,758 estimated total hotel room nights, $17.4 million in projected tax revenue and $861.9 million in regional economic impact, he said.

In attempt to combat the complete loss, Rippetoe said he is doing some rearranging.

“Whenever possible, we tried to work with our clients to postpone their events to new dates rather than have them canceled entirely,” said Rippetoe. “It’s also possible some meeting planners who canceled events at other venues earlier in the year will be looking for alternate places to hold their events later this year or early next year. The timing and size of possible postponed events are not yet certain because the reopening guidelines and timing for convention centers in California haven’t been determined.”

Sharing Resources

Speaking of other venues, Rippetoe said COVID-19 has led to unprecedented collaboration with other convention centers in the state. He said all notion of competition has been put aside. Instead, they are sharing resources, data and best practices with one another, with the goal of jointly getting California’s convention industry back up and running sooner rather than later.

“We are currently working with 12 convention centers and their destination marketing organizations across the state to propose safe reopening guidelines for our industry” as a whole, he said.

On its end, Rippetoe said the San Diego Convention Center is working closely with the San Diego Tourism Authority on sales and marketing efforts. He said many of the Convention Center’s communication takes place directly with its clients and is available to the likes of meeting planners, exhibitors, attendees, business partners, local hotel partners and community stakeholders, among others, via its website, social media, email newsletters, video messaging and media relations. Rippetoe also said the center is currently updating its digital and print materials to focus on its enhanced measures for health and safety.

Meeting Sector

Julie Coker, president and CEO of SDTA, said part of her immediate and long-term goal is to maximize the use of the center. This is because she predicts tourism’s forecasted numbers for 2020 will be highly dependent on the meeting sector.

“The convention centers in California have submitted a proposal to Governor Gavin Newsom in which they are asking him to allow meetings to resume sooner in phase 4,” said Coker. “It is a very detailed plan on how we know we can keep attendees safe and still follow protocol in the convention center. That does play a role on the numbers we hope to produce by the end of the year.”

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-