What has a convention and visitors bureau done for you, lately? Maybe it has created a better business environment, as in Cincinnati, OH, where it recently helped voters overturn Article XII, an 11-year-old city charter provision that's been described by the Cincinnati Enquirer as "a divisive, pointless measure that gave Cincinnati an undeserved reputation for intolerance." Because of this provision (which discriminated against gay citizens), many groups had been bypassing Cincinnati to the tune of at least $46 million in lost revenue, according to the Greater Cincinnati CVB. Joining a coalition of community leaders that included the Chamber of Commerce and area employer Proctor & Gamble, the CVB followed up the provision's repeal by sending letters to 200 groups that had previously opted out. Or maybe it made the city more fun, like in Houston, where years of construction paid off with a new downtown that, says Gerard J. "Jordy" Tollett, president and CEO of the Greater Houston CVB, "is alive with 50 new restaurants and clubs, trendy boutique hotels, an elegant 1,200-room convention center hotel, and a METRORail service that can whisk visitors to a museum or ball game within minutes."
Good visitor perception is important to CVBs. As San Francisco continues to struggle (at presstime) with a high-profile hotel strike, the CVB must deal with the long-term effects of the strike's fallout. The strike, admits John Marks, president, San Francisco CVB, "[has raised] the visibility of the industry locally simply because the media were covering the subject each day. It also caused some inconvenience for guests staying at the 14 hotels that were involved." On business already booked, however, the strike had little effect. "In fact," say Marks, "we had higher hotel occupancy in each month of the strike year over year. In October, we had more than 70,000 convention delegates at Moscone Center."
Selling It
While a CVB's key mission is to market to visitors and convey the economic impact of tourism to the community, the circumstances are generally not so dramatic. The greatest challenges come from getting the public to "buy in" on the kind of convention center and headquarters hotel development that will attract visitors. For the Moscone Convention Center's 300,000-square-foot expansion in 2003, Marks says, "We were required to go to the ballot. The bureau managed the campaign, and in the process of conducting considerable research regarding the tourism, meetings and conventions industry, we found that more than 80 percent of the public 'gets it,' and is indeed supportive of our industry."
But what happens when the public doesn't get it? Says Richard Scharf, president and CEO of the Denver Metro CVB, "Our public is [now] very aware of the tourism industry because, as many are aware, we had the defeat of the renewal of our state tourism tax back in 1993. Since that time, we've lost $2 million a year in state visitors' spending as a result of not having had those marketing dollars. Over the last 10 years, the average resident has really seen what the lack of marketing and trying to be competitive has done. They're all aware of our industry now, and it seems that everyone's trying to do something with the funding again." In late 2004, Denver debuted its expanded Colorado Convention Center with a grand opening on December 6, followed by "Celebrate Denver," a free public event, on December 9. Interestingly, the center is positioned as a community center as well as a conventional center. Says Scharf, "We've been able to show the public how our convention center is just one part of the package. When you think about it, a meeting planner requires so much in a city, from accessibility to hotels to attractions—the convention center is just one part of it." The Chattanooga Convention Center also used a catered public spectacular (with indoor pyrotechnics) to celebrate a 2003 expansion that doubled its size of the center (for a total of 298,000 square feet). Says Steve Genovesi, VP of sales at the Chattanooga Area CVB, "Educating the public on the value of meetings and how good having a quality convention center is for the buying process of planners—that really helps in promoting our industry. So often, in many cases, when conventions decide to come to a city, a local individual is very instrumental in bringing it."
Making the Case
Community support of tourism efforts, however, is not always won easily. "I think it's an issue of whether it's an appropriate public expenditure," says Tom Hazinski, managing director, sports, convention, and entertainment for Mineola, NY-based global hospitality consultants, HVS International. "The question is whether the benefits that would accrue from the convention center are worth the capital expenditure, the ongoing operating expenditures, and the risk involved in the development. Opposition," he continues, "comes from whether the benefits of this development are worth the investment, and whether there might be other public investments that might be more beneficial to the community." While most cities have seen their way to building convention centers, because, says Hazinski, "those benefits are obvious. But," he adds, "we've also recommended against expansions or, in some cases, new development. Or to scale down the size of proposed development."
When it comes to building headquarters hotels—which directly benefit convention attendees—opposition comes not from the public but from the business community. "There are certain markets," says Hazinski, "where we've found that it would cause a great deal of stress in the hotel market to add new product. Our role is to provide our clients with the objective analysis, and then a lot of it comes down to policy decision." Hazinski, who has worked for CVBs on feasibility studies for centers and hotels in Austin, Denver, and Overland Park, KS, says that HVS' clients "ask us to help them understand what an appropriate approach to financing is, so that there can be a clear understanding of the costs and risks involved in the development. And then they ask, often, to estimate what we think the economic impact will be, to determine whether the level of investment is justified. They might typically ask for an estimate of future operating performance of the center, for cost estimates, for an approach to financing, and an economic impact analysis."
In a tourism-conscious destination like Phoenix, AZ, the reaction to its convention center expansion "has been overwhelmingly positive," says Douglas MacKenzie, spokesperson, Greater Phoenix CVB. "In fact, Phoenix voters approved a ballot measure in November 2001 authorizing the city to spend $300 million from city funding sources, and the input of industry and communities throughout the state led to the Arizona State Legislature to authorize $300 million in state matching funds for the project. The vast majority of local and state residents realize the future economic benefits of this project are very important; that our slice of the convention pie was getting smaller and smaller."
It's All About You
Competition to provide a great meeting experience also spurs many CVBs to acknowledge the pros and cons of their destinations. In Chattanooga, where major area attractions include the Tennessee Aquarium, Genovesi says, "We have a complimentary shuttle that goes throughout the city, and many times, [groups] think that the drivers work for the CVB, because they are ambassadors of the city." He touts size as a factor: "You go to some convention cities and they've got all the infrastructure and your typical convention attractions, but here we seem to have a good mix of both. Another thing, if you have anywhere from a 500-room group to a 1,000-room group, you're making a huge impact on this city. The newspapers, the restaurants—everyone will know you're in town. In a bigger city, where you're just one of 10 other groups, they might not even do an article on you." In Denver, where there has been an ongoing renaissance of development in the downtown area, Scharf can say, "Our residents are understanding little by little that the tourism industry is across many different industries. We're part of the airline industry, part of the transportation industry, part of hotel, retail, and restaurants. The taxes that are generated off the visitors create about $22 million for the city. A study done in the state showed that if we didn't have the tourism industry, each household would have to pay an additional $260 annually to get the same basic services they have today. It shows you how much the visitors pay to support our own residents."