Meeting News - December 17, 2007 - (Page 20)

CVBs continued from page 18 nearly 14 percent of the organization’s $7-million annual funding from the city. Meet Minneapolis told USAE Weekly that the system should get out of the red in the next few years, but presumably the bills will keep coming. Dave Mona, chairman of the CVB’s board , told USAE Weekly that the CVB would have less money for programs. NYC & Company Heads North for More Business New York—With the Canadian dollar boasting its greatest U.S. purchasing clout in years, New York City’s convention and visitors bureau has decided to go where that potential business comes from and open a marketing office in Toronto. “With the economic advantages of traveling to New York City, we believe that there’s no better time than now to establish a more formal presence in this key market,” said George Fertitta, NYC & Company’s CEO. In 2006, the city hosted 840,000 Canadian visitors, and that figure is expected to rise by some 5 percent by year end 2007, boosted by the strengthening Canadian dollar, currently at a 30-year high versus the greenback on currency exchange markets. As a result, Canadian purchases in the States go further, elimi- nating the premium that Canadian groups and attendees have had to pay for events in the U.S. The new tourism office will be represented by Vision Co., originally a sports marketing organization that has grown into an all-around branding and marketing firm. The new office is NYC & Company’s ninth to open this year alone; the bureau now has 16 international marketing locations. Buffalo CVB Suffers Over 2008 Bed Tax Budget Cuts CVB Q&A: Tunica Points to Casinos Webster Franklin, executive director of the Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau, spoke to MeetingNews about the gaming upgrades that will make the northwestern Mississippi destination more competitive in 2008 and beyond. (For more Mississippi coverage, see Destination Insider on page 34.) Q A How would you characterize the continuing development of Tunica’s infrastructure for meeting groups right now? Most of what is happening is hotel driven, rather than public facilities. We are not looking at any expansion of our public exhibition facilities at the moment, and the total amount of meeting space in town has not grown significantly in the past few years. But for planners who have not been here recently, what they need to know is how aggressively the casino hotels are upgrading their meeting spaces, keeping them state-of-theart in terms of technical systems like AV, and keeping them cutting edge in terms of look, quality of the furnishings, and the like. A good example is [MGM Mirage’s] Gold Strike Casino Resort, which has 30,000 sf of meeting space, all of which was recently redone to the highest standards you’ll see anywhere. Another is Grand Casino Tunica, which has 45,000 sf of high-end meeting space in what is the only freestanding hotel conference center in town. It has just announced a $45-million renovation that will include the entire resort and all guest rooms. Part of the new renovation will include the April 2008 opening of a new restaurant by Paula Dean, the famous TV chef, who will be opening her first restaurant outside of her hometown of Savannah, GA. This is coming as part of the Grand’s rebranding as a Harrah’s property. We have already had a lot of inquires from groups that want to book just because of her attrac- tiveness as a celebrity chef. This is an example of the things the casinos here are doing to stay cuttingedge and maintain attractiveness to meeting groups. Q A If not in facilities, then what’s the next public investment you expect to see in Tunica’s meetings infrastructure? This is not just for meetings, but it is an investment in transportation. We are about to extend the runway at our airport by another 1,500 feet. Until two years ago, it was just an agricultural airport [for crop dusters and the like]. After an upgrade at the end of 2005, we landed 214 [Boeing] 737 charter jets there in 2006, and in the first 10 months of 2007, we had more than 300 landings by 737 charters. We have just received a federal grant to extend the runway from 7,000 to 8,500 feet, which will allow us to land any commercial aircraft, so we are actively seeking scheduled air service. We are also about 20 minutes from [Memphis International Airport], so we are highly accessible already. I think we will grow even though I think the national meetings market will be flat. Our gaming hotels offer great bargains for groups, and I think the cost savings we can offer versus other destinations will serve us well in a tight economy. —Interview by Rowland Stiteler Q A What kinds of market advantages are Tunica banking on in 2008? Buffalo, NY—A series of last-minute addendums to a proposed $1.45billion Erie County budget has drawn the ire of the hospitality industry in this northwestern New York destination—famed for its proximity to Niagara Falls—as bed tax funds have been diverted away from the primary tourism agencies. The Erie County Legislature subtracted $1 million from bed tax receipts from budget lines allocated toward the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau, Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, and Buffalo Niagara Film Commission and placed the allocation elsewhere in the budget. An initial proposal was for about $5.2 million of the $7.1 million in anticipated 2008 bed tax receipts to go to the three agencies, and tourism officials are steamed after learning they’ll only receive $4.2 million. “They have no regard for what is a growing economy in Western New York,” said Richard Geiger, CVB president and CEO. “They are not giving us any money to market or promote the region.” Geiger hopes to spend time through December lobbying legislators to reconsider the plan. “We don’t want a slice of the sales tax or property tax. Just give us the bed tax dollars, which were supposed to go to us to begin with,” Geiger said. H —Section by Christopher Hosford www.meetingnews.com 20 MeetingNews December 17, 2007 http://www.meetingnews.com

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Meeting News - December 17, 2007

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