Meeting News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 13)

CVBs tics, these groups traditionally prefer low-season dates of July through December. The multicultural meetings market could prove to be a golden opportunity for the city and its hotel community, which is looking to boost group sales during this time period. “It was really an instance in which preparedness met opportunity. The hotel community came to us looking for ways to boost business in its highest-need months of July through December. We were able to identify a segment of the market that preferred those dates,” said Jackson, citing a 9,000-strong Elk Club conference and a 10,000strong Hindu youth group that both used the city last July. In creating the multicultural advisory board, Visit Jacksonville sourced best practices from several other bureaus and sought input from such organizations as the National Coalition of Black Meeting Planners and the International Association of Hispanic Meeting Planners. The board will focus specifically on how to offer incentives to make the city’s low season even more attractive to multicultural groups but also to the group market in general. Discounts on meeting space, hotel rooms, and other services are being considered. “The main focus will always be meetings and convention business,” said Jackson. “The meetings business brings leisure business as visitors return.” Visit Florida, the state tourism office, is supporting the multicultural campaign through a $20,000 grant. The organization cites no additional outside funding to support the intiative. Team San Jose Wins Bid to Manage CC Five-year contract comes with directives to ramp up bookings and improve competitive-benchmarking tools San Jose, CA—Mayor Chuck Reed and San Jose’s city council last month approved an agreement to extend the management contract of several of the city’s group venues to Team San Jose. The five-year extension includes such facilities as the McEnery Convention Center, the Center for Performing Arts, and the historic California Theatre. Team San Jose employs a unique organizational model that consists not only of the San Jose Convention & Visitors Bureau but also the local hotel, arts, and labor communities, as well as food and beverage partner Centerplate. The city has gotten good reviews from meeting planners who have experienced the one-stop-shop approach that Team San Jose provides. A 67-percent increase in group and visitor revenues backs up the customer service reviews, according to statistics provided by the CVB. But the management contract does not come without stipulations. The mayor and city council directed Team San Jose to create better performance measures to evaluate the impact of tourism on the community based on hotel room nights and visitor spending, and to create benchmarking opportunities to compare San Jose to competing cities. Also included in the contract are specific performance targets designed to increase the number of concerts at the Civic Auditorium. http://www.CincyMeetings.com http://www.CincyMeetings.com

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Meeting News - January 28, 2008

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