Jan. 26, 2005 - The Georgia World Congress Center, the fourth-largest convention facility in the country, will need to fill a lot of halls in the next five months if it is to end the year in the black.

Revenue for the first half of fiscal 2005 -- which began in July 2004 -- is about $1.5 million below forecast, GWCC officials said Tuesday at the first Georgia World Congress Center Authority meeting of the year.

That set off alarms because they had expected the shortfall to be only about $500,000.

Making matters worse, the center had expected to add about $400,000 to its coffers by hosting activities related to the National Hockey League All-Star Game, which was supposed to come to Atlanta next month. But now that's off because of the hockey lockout.

"We're disappointed by where we are on the revenue side for the Georgia World Congress Center," said Dan Graveline, GWCC executive director.

Any sign of a revenue slowdown is important to the GWCC because every dollar counts in the high-stakes meeting industry game.

Convention facilities keep getting bigger, but the trade shows and corporate meetings to fill them are still struggling to recover from a sluggish economy and the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.

A recent report for the Brookings Institution criticized cities for spending billions to expand their convention facilities and turning a blind eye to the meeting industry's struggles, saying that some facility operators were giving space away.

The Georgia World Congress Center opened a 1.4 million-square-foot expansion in February 2003 in its effort to keep up with the industry.

The Georgia Legislature approved $225 million in state funds for the project in 1999.

To help during the recent lean times, officials reduced energy consumption in unused parts of the building, hired minimal staff to help with the expanded space and improved its catering business. The center eked out a $225,788 profit last year.

Part of the GWCC's current revenue lethargy was expected. The summer months and the winter holidays -- roughly Thanksgiving through New Year's Day -- are traditionally slow-to-dead periods for the meetings industry, and officials expected business to be less than peachy.

The biggest reason for the shortfall, GWCC spokeswoman Katy Pando said, resulted when the GWCC lost revenue from lucrative food and beverage sales after parties from two of its biggest shows this past summer were moved to the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park. But because the parties had been originally planned for the convention center, they were still included in the GWCC budget forecast.

But that was still a win for the Georgia World Congress Center overall, she said, because the dome and park are part of the GWCC's authority.

"Campuswide, we didn't lose the money," she said. "It went on the spreadsheet of the Dome and the Park."

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