With its mid-Atlantic coast location and easy access by air, rail, or automobile, Baltimore has long been a strategic choice for convention-holders. The recent redevelopment of the city's downtown Inner Harbor area has made Baltimore even more attractive to conventioneers, who enjoy the many fine restaurants, retail centers, and cultural attractions on or near the water.
Baltimore's largest meeting facility is the Baltimore Convention Center located at the Inner Harbor. An expansion of the facility completed in 1996 tripled its size to more than 1.2 million square feet. A 36,672-square-foot ballroom, 50 meeting rooms, and 300,000 square feet of exhibition space on one level make for an extremely flexible facility.
The Baltimore Arena is used primarily for sporting events and travelling circuses, but it also has 25 meeting rooms for 20 to 300 people. The facility has an auditorium with a capacity for 13,000 people, and parking accommodations for 5,000 cars. Oriole Park at Camden Yards is available for trade shows. Many of Baltimore's downtown hotels also provide meeting facilities. There are more than 8,000 hotel rooms within a mile radius of the Baltimore Convention Center. The Baltimore Marriott-Waterfront, which opened in 2000, is a 31-story hotel with 750 guestrooms, 80,000 square feet of total meeting space, exhibition space and 38 meeting rooms.
Convention Information: Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, 100 Light Street, 12th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; telephone (410)659-7300 or (800)343-3468; fax (410)727-2308