ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orange County Convention Center isn't just the second largest convention center in America, it has also had continuous upgrades over the years, and some are hoping to see even more.

What You Need To Know

  • Hundreds of millions of Tourism Development Tax dollars have gone toward Orange County Convention Center improvements

  • OCCC is already the second largest convention center in America, but some event organizers say it isn't big enough

  • Convention center officials say they have lost more than 100 events because, they "did not have sufficient space available to accommodate their event"

Cathy Case has a tall task each year: Figuring out how to get hundreds of boats inside the Convention Center for the annual “Orlando Boat Show.”

The event has taken place inside the Convention Center since 1989 and Case says it has only gotten bigger each year.

“Usually 20 to 21 dealers, all moving boats at the same time is a challenge,” said Case, the show's executive director. “Trying to get everybody in the space that will fit within the floor plan is tough.”

For her most recent show in August, the showroom floor was packed from stem to stern, and Case said that made some vendors a bit uncomfortable when trying to seal a deal.

“So you know they have everything right up front here,” she said, pointing at a picture of salesman in front of a boat being explored by children. “They would like to be more private.”

Professor Dr. Kelly Semrad teaches tourism, events, and attractions at the University of Central Florida, and says the Orange County Convention Center has more than enough space and upgrades over the years. She also pointed out that financially, it is doing just fine the way it is.

“To my knowledge, we have never had a convention that has said Orlando we can’t come to you because you are not big enough,” Semrad said. “What this TDT (Tourism Development Tax) does is allocate the funds to expand the Convention Center, we are not losing business because the Convention Center is not large enough.”

Semrad also said it’s not right to think the funding would help bring shows or conferences to Orlando that would otherwise go to other places like Las Vegas or Chicago.

“We are essentially building a facility to entice potential convention attendees where Orlando would not have been there market choice anyways,” Semrad said.

Case said the Orlando Boat Show has been dropping anchor at the Convention Center for 34 years, and organizers don’t plan on sailing away any time soon.

“We’ve experienced great success for each of our shows and partnering with the Convention Center,” she said.

This year more than 300 boats were at the show — Case said the hope for the next one is more than 500.

Spectrum News 13 did ask the county and county mayors office which venues have not come due to the space being insufficient or for non-political reasons.

Names were not provided, but representatives from the Orange County Convention Center said more than 100 events have told the staff that they did not have sufficient space available to accommodate their event.