Orlando Convention Center Sees Healthy Level Of Business

ORLANDO— Orlando hotels may still be recovering from 9/11, but the Orange County Convention Center had a 16% increase in occupancy during the first five months of the year, according to The Orlando Sentinel. Moreover, Mays occupancy rate — 96% — shattered all previous monthly records, said the report. “Our business has roared back since the start of 2002,” executive director Tom Ackert said Thursday in a statement. The previous record at the center was in February 1999 when the 1.1 million-square-foot facility was 86 percent full. Ackert said it now looks as if the center will end the fiscal year on Sept. 30 with a 3.3%increase in occupancy, despite the sharp slowdown in business travel right after the terrorist attacks. Occupancy at the center from January to May rose from 68.4% a year ago to 79.5% this year. Thats up 11.1 percentage points, or 16.2% The center is in the midst of a $748 million expansion to double the exhibition space to about 2 million square feet by late 2003. SOURCE: The Orlando Sentinel