Abstract
Cities often vie to host national political conventions in the belief that they will reap large economic windfalls. However, previous research suggests the gains to host cities are smaller than often claimed. This chapter uses daily hotel occupancy data to examine the 2016 conventions held in Cleveland, Ohio, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The results are similar to previous research: Political conventions generate increases in host cities’ hotel occupancy and revenue, but the effects are far below those claimed by event promoters. The empirical models also produce estimated effects associated with various professional sports franchises and other events in both cities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
At the risk of saying “we told you so,” Lauren Heller predicted that this might be the case in an Op-Ed in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Heller 2016).
References
R.A. Baade, 16 The economic impact of mega-sporting events, in Handbook on the Economics of Sport, (Elgar, Cheltenham, 2006), p. 177
R.A. Baade, R.F. Dye, Sports stadiums and area development: A critical review. Econ. Dev. Q. 2(3), 265–275 (1988)
R.A. Baade, R.F. Dye, The impact of stadium and professional sports on metropolitan area development. Growth Chang. 21(2), 1–14 (1990)
R.A. Baade, V. Matheson, Bidding for the Olympics: Fool’s gold. Transatl. Sport Comp. Econ. N. Am. Eur. Sports 54(2), 127 (2002)
R.A. Baade, R. Baumann, V. Matheson, Estimating the economic impact of natural and social disasters, with an application to Hurricane Katrina. Urban Stud. 44(11), 2061–2076 (2007)
R.A. Baade, R. Baumann, V.A. Matheson, Rejecting ‘conventional’ wisdom: Estimating the economic impact of national political conventions. East. Econ. J. 35(4), 520–530 (2009)
R.W. Baumann, V.A. Matheson, C. Muroi, Bowling in Hawaii: Examining the effectiveness of sports-based tourism strategies. J. Sports Econ. 10(1), 107–123 (2009)
R. Baumann, V. Matheson, E.F. Stephenson, Estimating the Economic Impact of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game Using High Frequency Tourism Data, Working Paper (2021)
R. Baumann, V. Matheson, E.F. Stephenson, J. Muldowney, Comparing the visitor impact of events at professional sports facilities, Working paper (2022)
Y. Chikish, B.R. Humphreys, C. Liu, A. Nowak, Sports-led tourism, spatial displacement, and hotel demand. Econ. Inq. 57(4), 1859–1878 (2019)
C.A. Depken, E.F. Stephenson, Hotel demand before, during, and after sports events: Evidence from Charlotte, North Carolina. Econ. Inq. 56(3), 1764–1776 (2018)
Discoverphl.com, 2016 Annual Report-for the Record. (2017) [online] Available at: https://www.discoverphl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/PHLCVB_Annual_Report_2016_SPREADS.pdf
L.R. Heller, Republican National Convention unlikely to give Cleveland the advertised economic boost. Opinion, Cleveland Plain Dealer (2016, July 8). https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2016/07/republican_national_convention.html
L.R. Heller, E.F. Stephenson, How does the super bowl affect host city tourism? J. Sports Econ. 22(2), 183–201 (2021)
L.R. Heller, V.A. Matheson, E.F. Stephenson, Unconventional wisdom: Estimating the economic impact of the democratic and republican national political conventions. Pap. Reg. Sci. 97(4), 1267–1278 (2018)
P2016.org, Cleveland 2016 Host Committee Press Release on Economic Impact. (2017) [online] Available at: https://www.p2016.org/gopconv16/clehost080317pr.html
J. Ross, Here are some of the massive security measures Cleveland is taking for the GOP Convention. The Washington Post. (2016, June 19). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/19/here-are-some-of-the-massive-security-measures-cleveland-is-taking-for-the-2016-gop-convention/
A. Tobias, Cleveland officials, citing security, defend restrictions for Republican National Convention against lawsuit. Cleveland Plain Dealer. (2016, June 21). https://www.cleveland.com/rnc-2016/2016/06/cleveland_officials_citing_sec.html
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Aurobindo, A., Heller, L.R., Stephenson, E.F. (2023). The Effect of National Political Conventions on Hotel Occupancy: Updated Evidence. In: Matheson, V.A., Baumann, R. (eds) The Economic Impact of Sports Facilities, Franchises, and Events. Sports Economics, Management and Policy, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39248-1_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39248-1_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-39247-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-39248-1
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)