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| By Donna Goodison, Boston
HeraldMcClatchy-Tribune Regional News
Dec. 28, 2011--Make way for visitors with neck lanyards on the streets of Boston in 2012. The Hub is set to have its strongest year for convention business since 2007, according to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority. Bookings at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center are forecast to pump $625 million into the local economy. The events will result in an estimated 601,000 hotel room night reservations, a 34 percent increase from last year and the first time since 2007 that they would exceed 600,000. The annual BIO International Convention, the world's largest biotechnology confab, returns to Boston in June for the first time in five years. The convention at the sprawling Southie meeting hall is expected to have the largest economic impact on the Hub next year, bringing in some 15,500 people and generating an estimated $25.3 million in spending. Other conventions headed to town include video gaming event Penny Arcade Expo East and the Cable Show, one of cable television's top industry gatherings. ___ (c)2011 the Boston Herald Visit the Boston Herald at www.bostonherald.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |