By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – In the push for a domed convention complex, the director of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex says other cities are expanding facilities in the competition for new business. B-J-C-C Executive Director Jack Fields said the Major Exhibition Hall Directory lists 13 cities that are building new facilities and another 17 with expansions started. Jim Smither, president of the Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau, said his group has bookings through 2012 but needs both expanded facilities and an additional one-thousand hotel rooms within walking distance of the convention complex to retain and recruit more meetings. The B-J-C-C's eight-year expansion effort has stalled since this summer. Fields said expansion is needed to allow Birmingham to retain and attract additional conventions, meetings and entertainment like major concerts and sporting events. Birmingham's competitors, including Shreveport, Louisiana, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Jackson, Mississippi, have expansions started in mid-sized markets.