Branson Convention Center budgets to reduce deficit

The Branson Board of Aldermen has budgeted to cut the annual operating loss by about $12,000 next year at the city-owned convention center.

At a meeting last night, the board gave its stamp of approval to a 2015 budget projecting a net loss of $685,541. In comparison, 2014 is expected to end in the red to the tune of $697,982, while the convention center lost $722,875 during 2013, according to board agenda notes.

Revenue for the convention center - managed by West Conshohocken, Pa.-based SMG - is forecast to increase 15.6 percent to $4.2 million in 2015 from its projected $3.5 million this year.

Officials have said in the past the Branson Convention Center - connected to a Hilton hotel - is essentially a loss leader, defined by Investopedia.com as a service that isn’t profitable for the sake of producing earnings elsewhere.

Convention center operations have posted net operating losses every year since opening in August 2007, fluctuating between a $340,000 loss in 2010 and a $1.8 million loss in 2012. However, the city benefits by bringing in groups that book hotel rooms, dine out and make purchases at retailers, theaters and attractions. A study released in early 2011 pinned the center’s economic impact at $16 million, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.