Optimization-based convention site selection method

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions industry has developed greatly in recent decades, and has become an important driver of the regional economy. Many big cities are eager to develop the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions industry as a means of stimulating their economies. As is well known, convention site selection is one of most important research topics related to the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions industry, and this article presents an optimization-based method for convention site selection. This proposed method takes the non-quantifiable factors of site selection into account, and it adopts the use of second-hand data to quantitatively evaluate the performance of candidate sites with respect to several quantifiable factors. The proposed method is applied instead of using questionnaire surveys, and it is applicable for selecting convention sites even when the candidate sites are in the same cities. The method presented in this article takes various site-level factors into account (such as the meeting and accommodation facilities), along with city-level factors (such as the site environments). The main focus of this article is to provide a concrete method, along with a series of suggestions to help convention planners in making appropriate site-selection decisions.