An economic boom is expected to take place in the region as the Bayfront Convention Center continues to experience a busy year.

For the remainder of the month, five groups will take to the convention center. Hannah Stancliff, the director of convention sales and services of VisitErie, said their goal as the convention and visitor bureau of Erie County is to drive tourism in multiple ways.

“One of those ways is to bring conventions, conferences, meetings, reunions, anything of that sort for people out of town to meet here in Erie,” said Stancliff.

According to VisitErie, the groups will have an estimated impact of close to $1 million in the Erie area.

“One of the groups we have coming in — Marcellus Shale Coalition — they’ll be bringing in close to a thousand people over the course of four days so they have a very high economic impact. We even have some of our smaller groups coming in for a couple of days with 50 people. They’ll be bringing in some economic impact as well,” Stancfliff added.

Ed Snyder, the general manager of the Bayfront Convention Center, said they’re having a busy year with more success leading into the future with events planned into 2026.

“The building is actually busier in 2023 than it’s ever been. We’ve really come out of the pandemic strong so that’s huge. August, September and October are our busiest months ever in the convention center,” said Snyder.

He added the layout of the Bayfront Landing Complex helps book more events based on the needs of people.

“We have lots of meeting rooms (convention size), a great hall, ballrooms, our two attached hotels have meeting rooms and there are five restaurants on the complex. Depending on what time of the event they want to bring in, we can accommodate pretty much everybody,” Snyder continued.

Stancliff said these events also act as a networking opportunity to bring other groups into the area and show them what Erie has to offer.