Canada Aggressively Reaching Out To Conv., Mtgs. Biz

Faced with devastation from the April 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, the city of Toronto's visitors and convention bureau, with financial aid from the Ontario government, has kicked up its marketing efforts several notches to attract meetings and convention business to Canada's largest metropolitan area.

Last year, the city had nine citywide convention cancellations as a result of SARS, although seven have since rebooked for 2004 and beyond. In concrete terms, 307,000 hotel room nights were lost in revenues from meetings, convention and incentive travel in 2003. Financially, more than C$600 million (US$450 million) was lost in direct and indirect tourism revenue from U.S. visitors as a result of SARS and Canada's decision not to participate in the Iraq war. Even more relevant, a rising Canadian dollar resulted in heftier costs for U.S. planners. The U.S. dollar currently is worth about C$1.30, compared with about C$1.61 in early 2003.

"We were devastated last year and had major cancellations," said Karen Bannerman, director of catering and convention services for the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, which has 70,000-sq.-ft of meeting space. "As a result of SARS, it was very quiet from May to August, although it started to come back in September, but U.S. business still hasn't come back. The biggest problem we had was that the booking window for future years is April, May and June. That's when people come to do site inspections, and they just weren't traveling to Toronto."

Bannerman predicted that business this year could increase by 30 percent, while 2005 should be stronger, barring no unforeseen events.

Noting that the city and its CVB, Tourism Toronto, had not focused on meetings and convention marketing in recent years, Bruce MacMillan, president and CEO of Tourism Toronto, said it took a disaster like SARS to encourage suppliers, the provincial government and Tourism Toronto to step up efforts to promote the city as a convention destination.

"SARS brought the community and government together to say: 'We're in this game, and we're in it to win,' " MacMillan said.

Stuart McColl, regional director of sales and marketing for Toronto-based Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, who is responsible for the city's Fairmont Royal York, said business is starting to return slowly. However, lead times are much shorter. Before SARS, lead times for a small corporate meeting, for example, were about two months. Now, the hotel gets inquiries up to one week before an event is scheduled.

"There's good availability, so there's not the demand to give a big lead time," McColl said. "The corporate cultures are such that they don't know what's going to happen next week, so they will hold off on decision-making as long as they can."

MacMillan agreed that business gradually is returning for 2004 and beyond. Yet, he added, this could not have happened without the infusion last year of C$14.3 million (US$10.9 million) from the Ontario government to create a number of programs directed at both leisure and group travel. About C$3 million (US$2.25 million) was directed at meetings and convention business.

With additional funding, a number of initiatives have been introduced to ensure that the lucrative convention market is aware of Toronto's offerings.

Last year, Tourism Toronto created the Convention Development Fund, which allocates monies to groups holding citywide conventions for such various services as intercity transportation, financial assistance for meeting space rental and executive pickup at the airport.

It also introduced its Red Carpet program to heighten awareness about Toronto as a convention destination. The CVB also created the Toronto Client Advisory Board that meets twice annually, comprised mainly of Canadian and U.S. planners. The board has a mandate to advise Tourism Toronto about what planners require to make a meeting successful.

In December, the tourism association implemented the online hotel reservations system, Passkey, to facilitate hotel reservations.

Perhaps key to its ongoing marketing efforts was the introduction in January of a destination marketing fee, a 3 percent levy similar to those charged by many other destinations. The fee, part of the hotel guest room rate, is being used specifically for tourism marketing. MacMillan said it should bring in up to C$20 million (US$15 million) annually. About 40 percent will be dedicated to meeting and convention marketing, with a hefty chunk directed at U.S. planners.

John Houghton, vice president of sales and marketing for the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, noting that millions of square feet of meeting space have and will continue to be brought online in the future, said it is essential for Toronto to step up its marketing efforts.

"There's no question that it is a buyer's market for meeting planners," he said. "Right now, it's all about the meeting planner and what they need to have in order to be successful and have a successful event and then marry that with the destination that meets those needs in the most appropriate way."

In Vancouver, meanwhile, after years of wrangling, the city finally has received the go-ahead and funding to expand its major convention facility, the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Located west of and separate from the existing center, the US$376.2 million project is expected to be completed by 2008 and available for use for the 2010 Olympics.

The expanded convention facility will feature 250,000 square feet of exhibition space, 71,000 square feet of meeting rooms, 50,000 square feet of ballroom space and a 12,000-sq.-ft. signature room with waterfront views. The existing convention center also will receive a facelift.

The existing facility has 133,000 square feet of space. When completed, the center will have a combined total of 516,000 square feet of meeting, exhibition, ballroom and theater space. The overall facility will have a gross area of 1.1 million square feet, including meeting space, support space, parking and areas for retail and loading.

Because the existing center is separate from the proposed expansion, activity at the existing facility will not be affected by the new construction. Once the design has been completed, construction is expected to begin later this year.