In August, the Republican National Convention will descend on Tampa to officially nominate Mitt Romney as the party’s presidential candidate.
They won’t be the only ones there for the show. Along with the thousands of politicians, party faithful, and no doubt a few protestors, there will be 16,000 members of the national and world media bringing the eyes of the world onto Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, and all of the cities and towns around Florida’s Tampa Bay.
So the convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) representing those areas are doing their best to ensure that the owners of more than a few of those eyes notice what a great place it is to hold a meeting or a convention, or just to bring their families for a vacation.
While the Tampa Bay area has played host to many substantial and high profile events over the years, from four Super Bowls to the 2006 (and 2016) Shriners International convention, the 2012 Republican National Convention (RNC) “is by far the most extensive one for the longest minimum night stay,” says Susan Williams, director of convention services and special events for Tampa Bay & Co. The bid was for 15,000 rooms at a minimum five-night stay, or 75,000 room-nights.
But when it comes to the RNC, size isn’t what matters. “This is certainly the most significant event we’ve ever hosted,” says Travis Claytor, Communications Manager for Tampa Bay & Co., the city’s CVB. “Just look at the sheer fact of who is coming in for this convention: You’re looking at CEOs and executive decision makers and leaders of communities throughout the United States, and even the world. The exposure we’re going to receive for hosting this is off the charts. All eyes will truly be on Tampa, all roads will lead to Tampa, that’s what everybody will be talking about. It’s going to be on the news, it’s going to be in the papers, it’s going to be on the Internet, it’s going to be everywhere you turn.”
Considering how high a profile the Republican presidential nomination has had this year, and how close the 2012 election is expected to be, a touch of hyperbole can be forgiven.
“We really want to take advantage of this to promote our area,” says Krista Soroka, Director of Community Relations at Tampa Bay & Co., who is the CVB’s point person with the RNC Host Committee. “It will have a tremendous impact on our community, both as a meetings and conventions destination and for future economic development of our area. We recognize that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
To that end, Hillsborough County provided the CVB with an additional $1 million to promote the destination. Aside from a national advertising campaign, some of that funding is going to an aggressive marketing campaign aimed at the meetings and conventions business, Soroka says. “We’re going to be bringing in some clients so they can see we can host something like the RNC,” she says, “and we want them to see we can host their meeting, too.”
All Together Now
The scope of the RNC event is such that the Tampa Bay & Co. is not treating it as any other convention. The CVB has gathered a marketing Co-op, including 10 other Tampa organizations, such as the Tampa/Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s unprecedented that these 10 organizations would come together under one co-op program,” Soroka says. “It’s something that we look to continue after the RNC. It’s a great practice run to get all these groups together in one room, and realize the advantages of really pooling our resources for something like this.”
Just getting together a bid for an event the size of the RNC required an unprecedented degree of co-operation among the area hoteliers, says Susan Williams, director of convention services and special events for Tampa Bay & Co. “That was a long process that went on for months and months, and a very successful one,” Williams says. “We needed everybody to come in and meet these criteria and get onto this bid, because it reached out so far past our downtown convention footprint. We bid on conventions week-in and week-out that are 2,000 rooms on peak nights, but to bid on one that is 15,000 brings a lot more [properties] into the process.”
Another goal is to ensure that cooperation doesn’t end when the RNC leaves Tampa. “It’s been a wonderful opportunity for us to have that forum for our hotel partners, [to have] every hotel represented in this project together in one room,” Williams says, adding that the experience will make it easier “to go back to them and say, ‘Similar to when we bid on the RNC, now we’re bidding on the XYZ convention and we need everybody to come in and meet these criteria and get onto this bid.”
Nor is that limited to hotels. As of mid-May, there were 70 venues on hold to book delegate events, private parties, and corporate shindigs during the convention, ranging from art museums to Ybor City nightclubs. And there will certainly be plenty of visits to and events of the area’s world-famous beaches, notably Clearwater Beach, Caladesi Island, Sand Key, and Fort DeSoto. “We think they’ll get a nice taste of what Tampa Bay is really all about,” Williams says.