Already one of the world's leading leisure destinations, Las Vegas ranked atop the most recent list of North American convention cities, according to Tradeshow Week.

Yet perched in the No. 2 spot is the somewhat off the beaten path city of Toronto, Canada's business capital. The Canadian dollar is one of the few hard currencies still trading at a discount to ours, making it one of the more affordable big cities on the continent.

In fact, cost is the top consideration for planners of meetings large and small, according a recent survey by YPB&R, a marketing-services agency specializing in the travel industry. That's true whether it's a 50-person corporate get-together or an enormous association rendezvous with a cast of thousands.

"The cost of lodging is the single-greatest concern they have," YPB& R Chief Executive Peter Yesawich said. "The domestic hotel business is, for the first time [in several years] trying to raise rates, but there is definitely going to be some price resistance in the market."

Drawn by a multitude of relatively inexpensive, high-quality hotels, convention planners booked 203 events in Las Vegas this year. The Nevada desert city's rapidly growing amount of meeting space has proven a powerful incentive.

Not only has the Las Vegas Convention Center undergone a major expansion and upgrade in recent years, but resort operators including the soon-to-be-merged MGM Mirage and Mandalay Resort Group have ploughed large sums into building new meeting and convention facilities.

Toronto came in second with 154 scheduled conventions and tradeshows this year. It also has benefited hugely from Canada's recently "enhanced open skies policy," Yesawich added, at a time when "the cost of air transportation is increasingly important.

"Just meeting there, you save 23 percent or 25 percent," he said. "And it has ease of access - it is far more accessible to the big demand generators of the East Coast."

Convention planners' cost considerations could spell trouble for New York, the third-most popular convention city with 134 shows.

The city's already high profile improved as it recovered from the devastating impact of the terrorist attacks. New York also launched an aggressive marketing campaign to bring back leisure and business visitors.

Yet the years of depressed hotel prices came to an abrupt end recently, with the Big Apple returning to the days of high occupancy - and even higher room rates.

With 111 conventions and tradeshows, Chicago claims the fourth spot on list. While it has many of the prized assets, including a central location, an established convention center and a currently depressed hotel market, the city is convinced it can get a bigger piece of the pie.

City officials have been pushing hard to bring down the price of labor at McCormick Place and add amenities elsewhere, including a proposed downtown casino, to drum up more business.

The stakes are high: According to the International Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus' ExPact 2004 study, delegates to conventions, meetings and trade shows spend will spend an average of $945 per event in 2004, breaking down to $266 per day with the average length of stay being 3.6 nights. That's up 36 percent from 1998.

"Events held in larger destinations tend to produce more spending," the study said. "Larger destinations also tend to host events that are broader in scope, which also translates into additional spending."

It doesn't get too much bigger than No. 5 Orlando. While not an urbanized area in the traditional sense, the sprawl of the central Sunshine State has been growing like a weed while busily building out its hotel base with an eye toward accommodating tourists and conventioneers alike.

And with a brand-new state-of-the-art convention center and more than enough family-friendly amenities nearby, it is likely to remain a major player for years to come.

Dallas comes in the sixth, with 99 shows this year, although Atlanta is breathing down its neck, at 95. Washington is eighth and San Francisco, ninth. Yesawich sees the most potential growth in relatively humble No. 10 San Diego.

Citing its year-round good weather and first-rate accommodations, he said: "San Diego is the destination that rises to the top."