Estimating the Economic Impact of Convention and Exhibition Businesses, Using a Regional Input–Output Model: A Case Study of the Daejeon Convention Center in South Korea

Abstract

Past research on the economic impact of convention and exhibition businesses has neglected disaggregated expenditures of these consumer groups. The primary reason for this neglect is that estimating the economic impacts of these businesses is complicated and requires comprehensive surveys of various consumer groups. Thus, this study estimated expenditures based on surveys to different consumers such as convention and exhibition visitors, convention and exhibition organizers, and exhibitors. This study also employed a regional input–output (I–O) model and then matched the types of expenditure patterns with the I–O table. Survey results show that exhibition visitors spent the largest amount (US$153 million), followed by convention attendees (US$48 million), convention organizers (US$47 million), exhibition organizers (US$3.3 million), and exhibitors (US$2.8 million). The results of the I–O model indicate that the Daejeon Convention Center generated US$488 million of output impact, US$102 million of income impact, US$233 million of value added impact, and 10,211 jobs.