Medical convention brings buzz back to Baltimore Convention Center
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has doctors in Baltimore from all over the world, bringing a new buzz at the Baltimore Convention Center since March 2020.
The halls and lecture rooms at the Baltimore Convention Center are filled once again as the American Society for Reproductive medicine is in town for its annual scientific congress and expo.
"Well, obviously as a health care group, we take the threat of COVID very seriously," said Sean Tipton, spokesperson for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Organizers told 11 News more than 3,000 people are attending the conference from 45 states and 70 countries.
Masks are required as well as proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test from the last 48 hours.
"We think using those constraints and that careful programming, we think we're going to be able to have a safe meeting. If we didn't think we were going to have a safe meeting, we wouldn't do it," Tipton said.
Last year, like many conferences scheduled in Baltimore, the conference went virtual. This year, organizers said the decision to come back was an easy one.
"Maryland's rather impressive performance and as far as getting people vaccinated played a role in our decision to continue to have this meeting, if we had scheduled this meeting for somewhere in Orlando or somewhere, I don't think we would be doing it," Tipton said.
"The pandemic has decimated travel and tourism industry here in Baltimore as well as around the country it’s been a tough blow for us," said Visit Baltimore President and CEO Al Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson said it's been tough going for the convention center during the pandemic, losing more than $150 million in economic impact for the city.
But Hutchinson said the tide is turning. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine convention will use 5,000 hotel rooms in 10 different hotels and provide more than $3 million in economic impact.
"We really want to put people back to work, so our hotels have been working very close trying to staff back up to get people back to work so this is a really important run for us very excited about what reproductive medicine will bring to Baltimore City," he said.
Visit Baltimore said the first quarter of next year is looking better as well. They have several more conventions planned for January.
Then in February, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament is planned, which in the past has brought more than 100,000 people to the city.