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The Moscone Center is slated to reopen this fall for conferences, another sign of economic recovery after a brutal year for San Francisco’s tourism industry, the engine of the city’s economy.
The annual meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand will be held from September 30 to October 2, the first confirmed engagement since the events devastated by the pandemic. The event has a budget of over $ 3.5 million and will have both in-person events and online video access.
“We think it’s safe to host an event,” said Mark Anderson, CEO of the American Society for Hand Surgery. “We have every reason to believe that almost 100% of the people who come and the people who support the meeting will be vaccinated significantly in advance during the last week of September.”
He said 99% of the group’s more than 4,000 members, all of whom are doctors, have already been vaccinated. The convention providers expect to be vaccinated by June. The event includes research presentations and best practice training for all surgeries, from fingertip to shoulder, he said.
There is still one major obstacle to all private events in California, from a small wedding to a mega-convention. California remains the only US state that does not have public health guidelines for private events.
“We are working on detailed guidance and will provide an update when we have more to share,” the California Department of Public Health said.
Anderson said he’s confident the guidelines will be finalized ahead of his event.
Spending on leisure and business tourism in San Francisco fell $ 8 billion last year from 2019, during the worst travel period in modern history. The Moscone Center hasn’t held any events for a year and has been converted into a city’s Department of Emergency Management operations center, homeless housing and a mass vaccination site.
San Francisco Travel, the city’s tourism office, does not plan any major conventions this fall and overall attendance will be 75% below 2019 levels. Other smaller events are in the process of being booked, the office said. .
Anderson said the event’s finances were protected in part because the convention center and hotels waived any potential financial penalties, such as attrition fees for unused hotel rooms, did -he declares. The event is reserving rooms at the Marriott Marquis and the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.
“We could mitigate some of our financial risks thanks in large part to the great people at Moscone and the great people at the Visitors Bureau,” he said.
San Francisco remains one of the most expensive cities in the world for doing business. Roaming and security remain concerns for some potential attendees, Anderson said. But the weakness of the tourism market has made San Francisco and other cities a “buyer’s market” for event planners, Anderson said.
“In a pre-pandemic time, San Francisco is a challenge,” Anderson said. “It is also an attractive city with a lot of value.
“Less than an hour’s drive from the city, there is so much beauty and so many attractions,” he added.
Anderson said two major risks could prevent the event from happening: another huge wave of infections and massive cancellations from around 800 surgeons who teach and present the bulk of the conference material.
“I don’t think that will happen,” he said. “People are definitely more optimistic.”
Roland Li is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @rolandlisf
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