(Cleveland) - Last summer's Republican National Convention provided a $200 million economic impact to Northeast Ohio, and is said to have changed national perceptions of Cleveland.
Those are among results of a study from the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee.
The economic benefit to Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga, Lorain, Summit, Medina, and Erie Counties was due to money spent by visitors for lodging, meals, and incidentials. There was $110 million in direct spending, and $188 million in economic impact.
Hotels had a 88 percent occupancy rate in the seven counties, and 99 percent occupancy in downtown Cleveland.
A survey done by the Cleveland State University Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs shows that the RNC changed people's impresions of Cleveland.
Before the RNC, people used words like "rust belt,""dull," "boring," and "dangerous" to describe Cleveland. Afterward, the most used words to decribe Cleveland were "friendly," "nice," "clean," and "safe."
76 percent of media stories about Cleveland were positive or neutral in tone.
Compared with Philadelphia, which hosted last year's Democratic National Convention, there were three times more outside media stories about Cleveland than about Philadelphia.