Meeting News - June 16, 2008 - (Page 50) Destination Insider: North Florida Edited by Rayna Katz rayna.katz@nielsen.com North Florida Drives Home the Positives Region’s drive-in destinations plow ahead despite skyrocketing gas prices North Florida has been predominately a drive-in market for generations, but the gasoline price problem doesn’t have tourism officials between Jacksonville and the far western Panhandle city of Pensacola worried. “I’d say ‘cautious optimism’ depicts expectations around here,” said John Reyes, president and CEO of the Jacksonville Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The same factors that made this area compelling for years remain, and a lot has happened recently in terms of new attractions and facilities.” Centerpieces among the new meeting facilities have been the 272-room Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front, which has 17,000 sf of meeting space, and the Crowne Plaza Pensacola Grand Hotel, a 219room-and-suite property with 7,584 sf of meeting space. The Hilton, a conversion from a Hilton Garden Inn, features a 6,700 sf-ballroom and sits within walking distance of shopping and restaurants. The Crowne Plaza, adjacent to the Pensacola Civic Center, incorporated the 93-year-old Pensacola Central Railroad Depot into the building complex and added antique furnishings and beveled glass to the depot’s restaurant. “We are constantly upgrading around here,” said Ed Schroeder, executive director of the Pensacola Convention & Visitors Bureau. Planner Nancy Crowe, director of meetings and events for the Alabama Independent Insurance Agents Association—which has met in Destin, FL, for 30 straight years and will be at Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort until 2011—said gas prices haven’t hurt demand for the 100-percent drive-in event. “Our group likes Florida’s beach atmosphere, and attendees still feel that driving there for our annual meeting makes sense,” she said. The Hilton Pensacola is a new property. MeetingNews Q & A: Tallahassee Ramps Up Emphasis On Meetings with New Products For the past year, Tallahassee has put its nose to the grindstone. There’s been growth in hotels and meeting venues and, at the same time, the Tallahassee Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (TACVB) has stepped up its marketing efforts. Has the hard work paid off in terms of meeting and convention business? MeetingNews checked in with TACVB president and CEO Sharon Liggett to find out. hotels rooms and 50,000 sf of function space downtown. That would be a huge new asset for us. Also, we have had some growth in small properties that have beefed up the guest room capacity in our downtown area. What is your hotel inventory near the Tallahassee Civic Center (the city’s convention center) today, and what size group is a good fit now for the city? Q A We had a 48-percent increase in meeting and convention visitors last year, going from 152,912 in 2006 to 227,336 in 2007. Q A With all of the added work you and the rest of the community have done, how’s business? It’s a combination of an increased emphasis on going after meeting groups and getting some great facilities, making us more appealing to meeting groups in the past couple of years. I have only been here two and a half years, but when I first got here, I was a little surprised at our meetings num50 MeetingNews June 16, 2008 QTo A what do you attribute that growth? bers, especially considering we have the state government, a major university presence, major health care facilities, and other meeting-intense institutions. We just weren’t going after meetings, and now we are. Also, we’ve had some excellent, unique meeting venues come into the inventory recently, like the Tallahassee Antique Car Museum [see related story on page 53] and some hotel growth in the area near our convention center downtown. Q A Are any other facilities coming on that might spur more growth in group business? Our mayor has been in talks with developers about a project that would involve about 300 At this point, a group of about 500 is what fills up the Tallahassee Civic Center, and we’ve got about 350 guest rooms in our primary convention hotels, like the Doubletree Tallahassee [243 rooms, 6,000 sf of meeting space] and the Park Plaza [119 rooms, 5,200 sf of meeting space]. But our offerings for conventions have grown with the opening this past February of the 100room Sheraton Four Points, which has a conference room that can seat 50, and some smaller properties that collectively offer another 200 rooms. With our growing room inventory and the new, interesting event venues, we have something to offer groups that have already met in Florida’s various major resort destinations and are looking for something new. www.meetingnews.com http://www.meetingnews.com
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