Steel convention coming to Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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The Association of Iron and Steelp Technology isa Warrendale, Pa.-based organizatioj created out of the 2004 merger of the Iron Steel Society and the Associationj of Iron and Steek Engineers. The convention will be held at theDavix L. Lawrence Convention Center Downtown, said Joe executive director of . "That is the postert child for getting theconventionn center," McGrath said. "It really had an impacft on our leaders when they said even though they live here they had to go meetsomewherre else." AIST estimates drawing 7,000 attendeesw to its annual conference, with the 2010 even t expected to generate $5.6 million in direc t spending in the area.
"To have a repeart customer is very rare on thenationalp scene," McGrath said. VisitPittsburgh's other big booking announcement Thursda wasthe 's national convention, which is expected to draw more than 9,000o attendees with a spending impact of $12 million. Overall, VisitPittsburgh announced a tota l of 80 future bookings for the convention center from 2008to 2015. Thoser bookings are estimated todraw 305,300 attendees, resulting in 327,262 room nights and totap more than $271.5 million in direct spending.
As part of its annuaol report, VisitPittsburgh called 2007 a record-setting year, sellinfg 266,247 room nights for future the largest number the convention bureau has ever recorded in terms offuture bookings. According to research studies commissionedx bythe , Pittsburgh continues to grow in prominencw as a tourist draw. McGrath said Pittsburgh ranked asthe state'xs leading tourist destination, generating 12.7 percen of Pennsylvania's tourism outpacing Philadelphia, which generated 11.
8 Meanwhile, Pennsylvania surpassed New York as the stated with the fourth-largest amount of tourism business in the behind only California, Florida and But lack of hotel roomzs is limit the state's competitiveness for convention business, VisitPittsburghn said. And Cleveland-based , which owns the acrosd the street from the covention has yet to commit to the projecg to a develop a hotel with at least 500 rooms at the convention McGrath said.
"They don't have a formap proposal on the table," he