Mass. convention business mounting a solid comeback
Photo | Grant Welker
Twice during the coronavirus pandemic, the DCU Center in Worcester -- typically home to events and conventions -- was used as an emergency field hospital.
Convention business in Massachusetts is "starting to escalate quite dramatically," with the potential to lift tourism and hospitality sectors ravaged during the pandemic, officials said Thursday.
Over the past few months, Boston Convention Marketing Center representatives have booked dozens of upcoming events at the two state-run convention centers in Boston and the Lawn on D, more than half of which were confirmed in the last month, according to data presented at a Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Board meeting.
Some of those showcases, conventions and conferences will still feel effects of COVID-19, such as fewer staff in attendance and potential vaccination requirements, but BCMC Executive Director Milt Herbert said Thursday that the industry continues to move closer to "the light at the end of the tunnel."
"Customers are now starting to recover from COVID-19 and business is starting to escalate quite dramatically," he said.
Events at the Hynes Convention Center and the Boston Convention and Exposition Center were wiped out after the state of emergency began in March 2020, cascading into scores of hotel room cancellations and widespread financial impacts.
Thursday marks the one-month anniversary of Gov. Charlie Baker's lifting of the COVID-19 state of emergency. - Chris Lisinski/SHNS | 7/15/21 10:59 AM
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