"I don't think there's any mystery (the economy has) impacted all of us," said NAMM President and CEO Joe Lamond. "Our members have to watch every dollar."
"I don't think it's a reflection of NAMM or Nashville. It's really just the economy, the industry and those types of issues," said Michael Hughes, vice president of research and consulting for Tradeshow Week magazine.
The lack of attendance caused some hotels to scramble to fill vacant space with other guests, and at least three properties sharply discounted room rates to try to book more rooms at the last minute.
At the Nashville Hilton, NAMM failed to fill 40 percent of the room nights the hotel had projected for this weekend, General Manager Ray Waters said. The convention ends today.
Attendance at the trade show is projected as low as 12,000 or 13,000 this year, down from a peak of 23,000 attendees in 2004. Last year, NAMM returned to Nashville for the first time since 2004 and drew nearly 17,500 registered attendees.
The weakened attendance mirrors a broader downward spiral in national business travel. The volume of hotel bookings by conventions and groups was off 15 percent in Nashville in May from a year earlier, according to Hendersonville-based Smith Travel Research. Revenue from group business here declined 16 percent for the same period, the research firm said.
Dave Keller, a business partner for Main Street Music store in Summerville, S.C., said he's not in Nashville this weekend for the trade show largely for financial reasons.
Keller and two store employees generally go to NAMM to meet with music manufacturers, and he confers with his business partner later to figure out which products to buy.
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