The convention center issue has been discussed in Columbia for more than three decades.
Columbia’s city council will hear a report Monday evening on the convention center feasibility study. Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) director Amy Schneider joined host Fred Parry in-studio Saturday to summarize the 131-page report:
“What we can use that now is as an economic tool, right. It’s economic development through tourism. We have hotel developers in town who are always looking for what’s my next step. What can I build,” Schneider says.
The report says Columbia’s population is growing at nearly four times the rate of the state of Missouri. The report also says Columbia attracts 1.7 million visitors annually and more than $615-million in visitor spending.
A 131-page report also says a convention center in Columbia would require a 13,000 square foot ballroom and about 8,800 square feet of meeting space:
“Columbia is really good at the small to mid-size meetings, those 50 to 350 size meetings. If they get any bigger than that, the Wyndham Executive Center, they’ve changed flags now, they’re really one of the only places you can hold those larger meetings,” says Schneider.
The report says while the Wyndham Executive Center and the Hilton Garden Inn offer event spaces, they lack modern amenities for large-scale events. You can listen to Mr. Parry’s full interview with Columbia CVB director Schneider here.
