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SAE 2000 World Congress Has Major Regional Economic Impact

1 March 2000

SAE 2000 World Congress Has Major Regional Economic Impact According to Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau

    DETROIT, March 1 -- The Society of Automotive Engineers' 2000
World Congress, which will be held March 6-9 at Cobo Center, will have a $25
million economic impact on the metro Detroit region, according to the Detroit
Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau (DMCVB).  The figure includes money spent
on air travel, hotel rooms, food and other services, but does not account for
millions of dollars more in the form of new business, manufacturing,
technology and research facilities.
    SAE World Congress has been held in Detroit since 1961 and is the largest
trade convention of the year hosted by Cobo Conference & Exhibition Center.
The convention has grown more than 700 percent during its nearly four decades
in Detroit.
    "SAE is an important customer for the metro Detroit area," said Larry
Alexander, president and CEO of the DMCVB.  "I encourage everyone in our
hospitality community to be prepared to roll out the red carpet in March when
our region hosts these valued clients."
    Alexander said the Bureau works closely with SAE to provide assistance in
promoting the World Congress.  The Bureau provides services including airport
banners, highway billboards, and hotel and retail banners and posters, as well
as co-hosting an exhibitor reception and board dinner and providing downtown
lunchtime eatery maps and coupons and global newspapers for attending media.
    The SAE 2000 World Congress features the exhibits of 1,300 global
suppliers on two levels of Cobo Conference & Exhibition Center.  Approximately
49,000 participants will use more than 12,000 hotel rooms throughout
metropolitan Detroit and Windsor during their stay, according to the DMCVB.
    The attendance of out-of-towners is estimated at 39 percent.  Seventeen
percent of the total attendance in 1998 came from outside of the United
States, including Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico
and the United Kingdom, which each sent more than 100 delegates.