It was less than a year ago that Religious Conference Management Association members gathered in Kansas City, Mo., for the association’s historic 40th annual conference. The meeting drew nearly 1,000 registrants and had a multi-million dollar economic impact, according to the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association.
More major religious conferences are headed to Kansas City in the next five years, bringing roughly $17 million and 27,000 visitors to the Kansas City area, according to a news release from the Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association. They are:
•The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese, which will bring 600 attendees to town for its 2013 Regional Parish Life Conference, generating 440 room nights with an economic impact of more than $400,000.
•Evangelical Free Church of America, which will hold its annual meeting in July 2014, bringing approximately 7,000 attendees, generating 8,650 room nights and infusing more than $4.6 million into the local economy.
•The International House Of Prayer extended its contract until 2015 for its young adult conference, with 12,000 attendees generating more than 4,400 room nights and creating an economic impact of nearly $5 million.
•The National Baptist Convention of Americawill bring 2,500 attendees and generate 3,277 room nights for an economic impact of nearly $2.5 million in 2017.
•In June 2018, the Unitarian Universalist Association will bring 5,000 attendees, accounting for 7,650 room nights and more than $4.2 million in local economic impact.
