Boston convention center reaches milestone

The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center has surpassed a total of one million hotel room night bookings since its opening in 2004, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority said.

The authority owns and oversees the operations of the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, the MassMutual Center in Springfield, and the Boston Common Parking Garage.

The one-million bookings milestone for the Boston convention center was reached with the opening of the general meeting of the American Society for Microbiology that is taking place at the center between June 1 and June 5, the authority said.

Since its opening in June 2004, the Boston convention centers "has welcomed nearly 1.4 million national and international visitors during 520 meetings, conventions, and trade shows and generated $910 million in economic impact for the city and region," the authority said.

The American Society for Microbiology event will book 23,100 hotel room nights, draw 12,000 educational, research, industrial, and government professionals to the Boston convention center, and bring in $15.6 million in economic activity for Greater Boston, the authority said.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)