The City of Trees is hosting its largest convention ever. Close to 1,500 people have been in town all week long for the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists Convention. The event is expected to bring close to three million dollars to Boise. City and business leaders hope improvements to downtown will bring in more large events.
"We put together a site visit and brought the key people to town showed them the center space and the hotels. They looked at Atlanta and looked at Washington D.C and they choose Boise," explained Terry Copp of the Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau.
They say the average convention attendee will spend almost $300 a day. One industry that's getting a piece of the pie is hotels, many of which are at capacity.
"A lot of them started coming in last week so we've been putting our entire staff to test as we are a newer hotel," said Amy Parrish of the Inn at 500 Capitol.
With the expanded Boise Centre and three more hotels on their way, the Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau says the magnitude of this convention proves they can take on large groups. Now, they hope to attract more conventions and make Boise a go-to destination.
"They probably will come back would be my guess," said Copp. "And it will help us bring other conventions to Boise because if we can manage this one we can manage so much more."
