Meeting News - February 25, 2008 - (Page 26)

Destination Insider: Missouri Edited by Elizabeth West elizabeth.west@nielsen.com Branson’s Aspirations Rise as Meetings Infrastructure Takes Off Once known for its group leisure business, Branson is reinventing itself with its eye on the meetings market With the opening of a 220,000-sf convention center and two new Hilton hotels—and a new airport on the way—Branson is sending a message to the meetings and conventions industry: We belong on the national stage. “Branson’s been doing group business for years and years, but until we had enough serious function or meeting space, we weren’t really able to get that message out to meeting and convention planners,” said Vienna Bowling, director of meeting and convention sales for the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce & Convention and Visitors Bureau. Last August, the city opened the Branson Convention Center, a 220,000-sf facility featuring two exhibition halls totaling 47,000-plus sf, a 23,000-sf ballroom, and 12 meeting rooms from 1,000 to 5,500 sf, which make up the second ﬂoor. Attached to the center is the 294-room Hilton Branson Convention Center, Hilton’s second hotel in the city, which also opened last fall. Within walking distance is Branson Landing, a 450,000-sf retail and entertainment development that opened last May. There sits the 242-room Hilton Promenade, which opened in February 2007 with 2,000 sf of meeting space. The new convention space, hotel rooms, and retail offerings are part of a concerted effort to attract year-round business. Branson’s new airport broke ground last July, which will enable the city to more easily target groups from across the country in the near future. “Traditionally, Branson’s been known as a drive-in destination,” said Bill Tirone, director of sales and marketing for the Hilton Branson Convention Center. “The addition of the Branson Airport will deﬁnitely help us attract more national associations.” The airport is scheduled to be completed in May 2009. No ﬁrm airline commitments have yet been made, though Branson is in talks with JetBlue, Southwest, and Frontier. “If we’re successful in getting the budget carriers that have been looking at us, it’s really going to make Branson much more viable for both leisure and group business,” said Bowling. A new airport, sizeable convention center, and hotel put Branson in play for groups. Downtown Improvements Debut in Missouri’s Major Cities In Kansas City, a $4-billion construction boom is taking shape in the downtown core, within blocks of the Kansas City Convention Center.“What a lot of planners told us—and we listened—is that we need to have more happening just steps away from our convention center,” said Rick Hughes, president of the Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association. In October, the $276-million Sprint Center opened. The 18,500-seat arena sits on the eastern edge of the Power & Light District, an $850-million, nine-square-block district geared toward creating an entertainment, retail, and dining hotspot for visitors and conventioneers. It is opening this spring. “We tend to overuse the term ‘renaissance,’ but it’s Opening in the spring is the new nine-block nothing short of that,” said Hughes. “There’s a Power & Light District in downtown KC. renewed optimism.” Meanwhile, in St. Louis, the new $507-million Lumiere Place opened in December, bringing a 75,000-sf casino and two new hotels with nearly 500 combined guest rooms to the city’s riverfront. “Our area is redeﬁning itself through high-proﬁle projects,” said Steve Stickford, senior VP of sales for the St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission. One of the hotels is the 200-room Four Seasons St. Louis, featuring 17,600 sf of meeting space. The other, the 295 all-suite HoteLumiere, features 8,000 sf of meeting space, including a 5,400-sf ballroom. 26 MeetingNews February 25, 2008 Photo Courtesy of the Kansas City CVA. Event Report Branson Car Auction Zooms Into the Fast Lane For 27 years, Jim Cox has been producing collector car auctions in Branson, but it wasn’t until his most recent event at the new Branson Convention Center in October that he found the venue for which he had always searched. “Over the years, we’ve been touring Branson looking for a permanent home,” said Cox, president of Branson Collector Cars, which organizes the semiannual auction. “For us, the new convention center has been absolutely ideal; it’s what we’ve needed for a long, long time.” In the past, Cox utilized theaters, parking lots with expensive tents, and hotels with varying levels of success for the three-day event that draws between 5,000 and 6,000 attendees to see 250 vintage cars available for auction. With the Branson continued on page 28 www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com

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