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Industry experts answer your question |
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Is there any green convention centre in the world that is run profitably?
Ms Jane Rai
Pacific World Destination East
Senior product development manager, Malaysia
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Ray Bloom
IMEX chairman
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Since we have been running the IMEX Green Awards, we have seen an enormous rise in the interest generated by environmentally and socially sensitive practices.
While just a few years ago these were the exception, they are rapidly becoming the norm.
There are a large number of convention centres throughout the world, which increasingly recognise the importance of implementing policies which truly affect their day-to-day operations in a positive way – reducing water usage, making use of sustainable energy sources, recycling waste, as well as giving back to their local communities.
Such practices are seen not only in new centres which have the advantage of being built with such considerations in mind, but also in older, more established centres. Messe Frankfurt, where IMEX is held each year, is a good example. It is one of the oldest exhibition centres in the world, as well as being the third largest. In addition, as a business it is extremely successful. However, its environmental practices are excellent – it helps IMEX recycle more than 80 per cent of the waste generated by the exhibition. Plus, for the first time this year, the centre supplied us with electricity from hydroelectric sources for the exhibition.
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Amy Spatrisano
Meeting Strategies Worldwide CEO and Green Meeting Industry Council founder
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There are two LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified convention centres in the US: the Oregon Convention Center and David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. The Moscone Center in San Francisco runs a very green operation though it is not currently certified. The San Diego and Philadelphia convention centres have environmental practices as well. Whether these convention centres are running profitably, I don’t know. Some convention centres don’t make a profit directly (regardless of whether or not they’re green) because they are charged with bringing convention dollars into their cities through hotel room nights and other revenue.
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