During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB) booked at least $3.5 billion in convention center-related business; of that, $2.8 billion is specific to the recent expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City Philadelphia, it announced last week in its annual report.
The Pennsylvania Convention Center opened its $786 million annex in March 2011 and is now the 14th largest convention center in the United States. Its expansion was just one of many highlights presented in the PCVB's fiscal year 2011 annual report, titled "The Power of Partnerships: Moving Philadelphia Forward." Other key findings:
• Future convention hotel room nights booked by the PCVB were up 79,000 over the last fiscal year, reaching 745,909.
• Conventions and groups continued to be Philadelphia's leading consumer of hotel rooms, with 35 percent of the market mix.
• Making up more than 50 percent of the city's meetings and conventions, life sciences remains the most vital meetings sector for Philadelphia.
• International visitation to Philadelphia increased by 7 percent, making Philadelphia the 13th most internationally visited city in the United States; it was No. 22 in 2002, when the PCVB began marketing Philadelphia to international travelers.
"It has been an electrifying 12 months in Philadelphia, as members of the hospitality community have been filled with a renewed sense of partnership," said PCVB President and CEO Jack Ferguson. "Everyone understands and realizes that, especially in this economy, there is tremendous value in working together. That is how we will strengthen Philadelphia's position among the leading convention and tourism destinations in the world."