Puerto Rico is expecting about 2,100 people to show up for ICANN73, scheduled to take place in San Juan next March, according to the local media, citing Pablo Rodriguez, a representative of the NIC.pr network information center. Rodriguez believes the conference will bring as much as $8 million to $10 million to the San Juan economy.
Domain Incite finds his projection too optimistic. First of all, consider that a decision about ICANN73’s format has not been made yet. This is the second year in a row that ICANN is holding all its events online due to the coronavirus-related restrictions. Previously, ICANN Board Chair Maarten Botterman said that ICANN73 might be held in the hybrid format, with in-person and virtual attendance. However, there is no official decision on this yet. Even if Pablo Rodriguez has some reliable insider information, these numbers are still not very credible. Remember that two years ago ICANN met in San Juan in March, when nobody was thinking about any quarantine restrictions, drawing a grand total of 1,564 people, still less than 2,000.
