Business View Magazine
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very, good. So much so, in fact, that we did a market
feasibility study in the late ‘90s and got the go-ahead
to build Phase Five – doubling the space; adding a mil-
lion square feet of exhibit space plus meeting space
with the hope that the success of the Convention
Center would bring more restaurants, more entertain-
ment, more hotel rooms, and more business travel-
ers to the community and the area. The Peabody is
now the Hyatt Regency Hotel, we also have two other
hotels, bookending the Convention Center West Build-
ing, the Rosen Centre and the Rosen Plaza and the
Hilton Orlando attached to the North/South Building.
We host conventions and trade shows, corporate busi-
ness, some consumer and public-ticketed events, but
our real mission is to put ‘heads in beds’ and bring
people to Orlando and Orange County.”
BVM: Are you still being supported by the bed tax?
Canning:
“Yes, in fact the bed tax, over the 30 years
that the Convention Center has been in operation, has
gone up to what it is now - maxed out at six percent.
And that is collected off of 115,000-plus hotel rooms
in this area, so it is a substantial amount of money
and it goes, first, to pay off the Convention Center debt
– the mortgage. We also do have a bit of an operating
subsidy that pays for capital improvements in the facil-
ity. Also, a good portion of the money goes to market-
ing the Convention Center as well as the destination
of Orlando.”
BVM: Most convention centers are not there to
‘make money,’ and some of them actually operate
at a loss – especially centers that are owned and
operated by a county or a city. Is that the case with
the OCCC?
Canning:
“You are exactly correct. Our mission is eco-
nomic development. So, if 10,000 attendees come to
a show, we estimate that they spend approximately
$1,970 per person for their stay. So, you would have
over $19 million dollars that a piece of business
