Nearly 8,000 residential construction workers from across the region are expected to attend the JLC Live conference March 27-29 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Kristen Adamo has had the event in her sights for months, lining up volunteers to help the visitors navigate Rhode Island, finding hotel rooms and arranging for transportation.

Adamo is executive director of the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the JLC Live conference is one of many events she and her team book, plan and coordinate. On top of that over the next three to four weeks, the state will host the Division 3 college wrestling championships and March Madness. There are many more events the bureau’s staff of 30 have brought to the state or assisted local groups to coordinate from the Great Car Race involving 150 pre-1974 cars that started on June 15, 2022, from Rocky Point Park to Fargo, North Dakota to the collectors of paperweights show and convention that filled the Crowne Plaza.

And with seven FIFA World Cup games possible in Foxboro next year, PWCVB’s world just gets bigger.

Adamo said bookings for regional sporting events are large, and so are higher-education and medical conferences. She is keeping a close eye on how cuts in government agencies and grants under the Trump administration will impact the hospitality business. Already a conference focused on wind power has been canceled.

 Last year the PWCVB booked 270 events that will result in the estimated direct spending of $100 million in the state.  Events are measured in booked hotel nights with 2,000 nights over three days considered big.

World Cup

Adamo told the Rotary Club of Warwick on Thursday that the bureau is working with Massachusetts to host seven FIFA World Cup 2026 games at Boston Stadium. The 2026 World Cup games are being held in this country, Mexico and Canada starting June 11 and culminating July 19.

Yes, you read that correctly, “Boston Stadium.”

In order to host those games to be played between June 26 and July 4, 2026, FIFA requested Gillette Stadium be named Boston Stadium for the period, so it’s Boston.

“That’s like seven Super Bowls. That’s going to be crazy,” said Adamo. She believes one of the semi-final games will be played in Rhode Island. She also anticipates Warwick hotels will be packed, that there will be a surge in airline passengers at Green Airport, and there will be an increased demand for train service to the stadium.

Consistently, Warwick hotels have recorded good occupancy and average daily rates. Adamo attributes that to rates and to the fact that Warwick hotels welcome families with savings for groups participating in regional sporting events.

In the 12 months that ended in January, the occupancy rate of the city’s 18 hotels was 68.8% – growth of 4.3% year-over-year.

The average daily rate for the period was $129, a 2.5% increase for the year. Revenue for the year was $69.8 million, an increase of 5.3%.

“So, Warwick is pretty strong,” Adamo writes in an email.

“Our organization currently has 69 events on the books that are using at least one Warwick hotel between now and April of 2027, which is the furthest out we go for Warwick. This equals 18,264 total rooms. Lastly, these Warwick hotels are part of the 69 events that will be bringing in 180,940 attendees with a total direct spend of $43.7 million.