Conventionland USA: The Geography of a Latterday Phenomenon

Abstract

The recent productions of social history include, among others, the staging of those ephemeral gatherings known as conventions. As one of the pioneers in this important mode of circulation and communication, the United States offers an apt case study of conventioneering's ascent and locational flux. The paper begins by defining a convention; it then (1) examines the selection of convention sites; (2) documents the surge in convention activity; (3) describes cross‐sectional changes (1964–1965 to 1990–1991) in the spatial patterns of convention attendance in the United States: and (4) explores the implications of these patterns for students of social change and American metropolitan evolution. The pronounced shift from older metropolises in the Northeast and Midwest to peripheral cities in the South and West may be interpreted more nearly as a response to site‐specific amenities promising pleasure and fun than to a place's position in the urban hierarchy. Staging conventions is part and parcel of the emerging Post‐modern City. The conjecture is that conventions may be satisfying social needs for specialized segments of the population as well as functioning as a communication medium sui generis.

Conference and exhibition tourism in the developing world: The South African experience

“…In the USA, the hosting of conventions and meetings is viewed as highly beneficial in that they can complement the seasonal fluctuations experienced in leisure tourism activities (Braun and Rungeling, 1992). Success in business tourism has been shown to bring also an array of non-financial rewards to localities, the most significant associated with image and profile enhancement, the physical upgrading and regeneration of decaying areas, and the generation of civic pride among residents (Law, 1987;Zelinsky, 1994;Bradley et al, 2002). Taken together, given the several potential economic and non-economic impacts of business tourism, it is not surprising that many different kinds of localities have been encouraged to seek a slice of this lucrative market by attracting conferences and exhibitions.…”

“…The relative importance of these four factors will vary, however, according to the nature of particular conferences or exhibitions. Considerable debate surrounds the role of 'image' in meetings tourism with Zelinsky (1994) arguing that in the experience of USA, image is a prime pull-factor. In more recent work, the role of image has been re-evaluated; image is viewed as important for meetings organisers, albeit not as important as other factors (Bradley et a/., 2002).…”

“…Considerable care is taken by meetings or conference organisers in terms of the selection of locations for the hosting of conferences or exhibitions. Accordingly, a critical research focus in business tourism scholarship is understanding the decision-making processes and destination images as held both by association meeting planners and potential attendees (Zelinsky, 1994;Oppermann, 1996aOppermann, , 1996bOppermann and Chon, 1997;Crouch and Ritchie, 1998;Getz et al, 1998;Oppermann, 1998;Weber, 2001).…”

“…In common with most areas of tourism scholarship, the available fragmented literature concerning business tourism is dominated by research on the developed world. A number of studies have appeared which document various dimensions of international or domestic business tourism in Europe (Law, 1987;Wootton and Stevens, 1995;Bradley et aL, 2002;Dorfler, 2002;Weber and Chon, 2002;World Tourism Organisation, 2003) and North America (Zelinsky, 1994;Hiller, 1995;Weber and Chon, 2002;Weber and Ladkin, 2003), which are the two leading international foci for business travel and business tourism. Increased research interest is evident also in the expanding markets of Australia and Pacific Rim Asia (see Cooper, 1979;Dwyer and Mistilis, 1997;Oppermann, 1997;Go and Govers, 1999;Lew and Chang, 1999;Qu et aL, 2000;Pyo and Koo, 2002;Kim et aL, 2003;Suh and McAvoy, 2005).…”

Who are the visitors? characteristics of temporary movers in Australia

“…Two groups who have attracted increasing attention in the wider literature are seasonal migrants (Longino and Marshall, 1990;Mings, 1997) and second home owners (Roseman, 1985;Hall and Müller, 2004). But absences from home may also be made to consume other services, such as education (Zelinsky, 1994) and while these moves are generally elective, others may be involuntary -as in the case of hospitalisation or incarceration.…”