Interesting... the economic impact of an upcoming NMRA national convention (in this case, the 2012 convention) is estimated at $1.9 million.
"Hobbyists fill out Grand Rapids convention calendar"
formatting link
August 06, 2007 Grand Rapids Press (Michigan)
Wow!
Even assuming a modest 5% tax on that impact (anyone who has rented a car or booked a hotel recently knows how conservative that assumption is for some items), that works out to $95,000 in additional taxes for the area. That should give some visitor and convention bureaus reason to take note when the NMRA selects cities for future conventions.
Future NMRA national conventions:
2008: Anaheim, Calif. 2009: Hartford, Conn. 2010: Milwaukee Wisc. 2011: Sacramento, Calif. 2012: Grand Rapids, Mich.