ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orange County Convention Center confirmed Wednesday that the National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) canceled its convention scheduled for the end of this month.

News of the cancellation comes amid Florida’s surging coronavirus cases, which have led to 12,000 people being hospitalized across the state, according to the Florida Hospital Association.

The NAFEM show was expected to attract 10,000 visitors to the Orlando region. Hospitality experts say conventions often provide local economies with a big boost.

“That’s a group of people with a profile that are larger spenders than leisure travelers," UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Associate Dean Robertico Croes told Spectrum News 13 in June.  

Back in June, the convention center was starting to see a comeback from the pandemic, with events this year anticipated to bring in $1.5 billion for Orange County.

But as of now, dozens of events originally scheduled for this year have either been canceled or rescheduled, according to the convention center’s website. 

In a statement, OCCC Executive Director Mark Tester wrote:

“We value our longstanding relationship with NAFEM. We understand the unique circumstances facing The NAFEM Show and look forward to their return to the Orange County Convention Center in 2023. We remain committed to the safety of our employees, clients, attendees and exhibitors and continue to adhere to the CDC’s guidelines and our comprehensive health and safety protocols in our Recovery and Resiliency Guidelines.”

NAFEM marks the second event cancellation specifically attributed to Florida’s spiking coronavirus cases. Last week, the Association of Operative Registered Nurses canceled, citing the fact that Florida accounts for one in five of all new COVID-19 infections in the U.S., according to our news partners at the Orlando Sentinel.

OCCC still has several events on its calendar for this month, including MegaCon Orlando and the Orlando Boat Show. MegaCon has already been pushed back once from its original March date.

MegaCon Orlando begins next week with increased restrictions

While some tradeshows are canceling their Orlando events amid spiking COVID-19 cases; others are moving ahead with their events with increased restrictions.

MegaCon takes place next week at the Orange County Convention Center.

Organizers of the four-day pop-culture convention will require “…all guests to wear a face-covering (masks) to cover their nose and mouth while indoors at our event.”

Spectrum News is told there will be no exceptions provided to the mask rule.

“In addition to the extensive sanitation protocols in place, we have also increased the sanitizing stations throughout the venue,” MegaCon organizers told Spectrum News in a statement.

The convention expects to draw 80,000 to 100,000 visitors over the event's four days.

“Hopefully, very quickly, we can see the numbers cresting and coming back down, and that’s our message to our events this fall is just hold on, let’s see what’s happening,” said Mark Tester, executive director of Orange County Convention Center.

Tester said despite four conventions canceling their event, the schedule still includes 52 more events for the rest of the year. Those events, if they remain, are expected to collectively draw nearly 500,000 people to the area.