Convention centers in the Chicago area are reporting a stronger outlook for the rest of 2021 and beyond as restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic have eased and events regain a sense of normalcy.
McCormick Place, the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel, and the Donald E. Stephens Convention & Conference Center in Rosemont have each reported an uptick in bookings. But while progress has been made, the COVID-19 delta variant could hamstring the momentum.
“You’re starting to hear things about people being asked to wear masks again. I don’t know where that’s going to lead us at this time,” said Christopher Stephens, executive director of the facility in Rosemont.
Sixty-six percent of the events canceled at McCormick Place due to the pandemic are planning to return, and there are 119 events scheduled through the end of next year with an estimated economic impact of $2.3 billion, according to McCormick Place spokesperson Cynthia McCafferty.
“As folks come back to the city, the impact goes far beyond the borders of our campus,” McCafferty said. The 234 events that were canceled at the McCormick Place since March 2020 represent $3.09 billion in lost economic impact for the state and city as well as $236.3 million in lost state and local taxes, McCafferty said.
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The Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel has seen an increase in events scheduled for the fall. The largest show at the venue, Mecum Auctions, wasn’t there last year but anticipates holding a three-day event in October, according to General Manager Dieter Heigl.
The convention center typically has between 250,000 and 300,000 attendees in a year, but Heigl estimates it only did 15% of its usual business last year. The convention center reopened in March, a full year after the COVID-19 pandemic forced its doors to close.
Heigl had expected business in 2020 to be the best in a decade because of an all-time high in bookings throughout the industry. The Events Industry Council, an organization that supports the global business events industry, saw record-level demand for business events in 2019, according to CEO Amy Calvert.
At the Donald E. Stephens Convention & Conference Center, there have been five shows since its reopening in June. While corporate meetings are coming back a bit slower, attendance has been strong for exhibits and public events, Stephens said.
At the same time, calls have been coming in every day from clients looking for updates regarding the delta variant. Stephens said most clients would prefer events to take place in person, but his facility can do a hybrid or virtual format if needed. It recently joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recommending everyone to wear a mask indoors regardless of vaccination status.
If the delta variant causes restrictions that were lifted to be reinstated, the area’s conventions centers could find themselves on different trajectories.
While McCormick Place has done hybrid events for more than a decade, the concept never took off at the Schaumburg Convention Center during the pandemic. Heigl said the cost of a hybrid event is almost the same as an in-person event because of the technology required to present, broadcast and provide live feedback.
Heigl hasn’t heard clients cite any concerns about the delta variant yet, but he hopes the vaccination rate continues to rise to counter any potential setbacks.
“I encourage everyone to get vaccinated. We cannot go back to where we were a year ago,” Heigl said.