Phila Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Facts

Some interesting facts that we took in from this morning's meeting:

• 1 million visitors to the convention center annually
• 25% of the US population is within a 5 hour ride to Philadelphia
• 7 years ago 16% of the tourism visitors said they intented to return to the area, today that number is 38%!
• Not one convention has canceled this year; this is huge compared to national numbers.
• 2 recent groups meeting here had the highest attendence in their respective history; this reinforces the accessability of the region for visitors and new businesses.
• There is currently 2 billion dollars worth of business booked at the convention center and the expansion is not yet completed.
• To date Philadelphia has had 10K more visitors than last year.
  

This is not to say everything is rosy in Philadelphia yet we are holding strong in tourism/convention business. People are still coming here to spend money on hotels, muesums, history, restaurants and everything else that Philadelphia has to offer.