Greater Cincinnati Girds Itself For Traveler Inux

<H1> Greater Cincinnati Girds Itself For Traveler Inux</H1>By Jonathan Siskin

<I>Cincinnati </I>- An increase in air service to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport plus a new convention center should bode well for the metropolitan area as it strives to increase its share of the lucrative business travel market.

Air traffic has been steadily on the rise since the completion of a $500 million airport expansion in late 1994. A record 15.2 million passengers passed through the facility in 1995, a jump of more than 11 percent over the previous year.

Key to this success is the fact that Delta Air Lines operates its second largest hub outside of Atlanta and that Comair has its primary hub at Cincinnati Airport.

Fourteen airlines now offer more than 515 daily departures. Last year, low-cost carrier Air Tran initiated non-stop service to Orlando; this spring, Continental re-entered the Cincinnati market with non-stop service to Newark and Las Vegas.

"In terms of the most important news impacting business travel, airport growth has been the number-one story in Cincinnati over the past two years," said Dave Kremp, vice president of sales and marketing for the Greater Cincinnati Convention & Visitors Bureau. "However, not everyone realizes how accessible and convenient it is to get here by air, and we're still trying to get the word out to business travelers about the level of service we now provide."

Kremp noted that along with extensive daily service to most major cities across the United States, there also are daily non-stop flights from Cincinnati to European gateway cities such as London, Paris, Frankfurt and Zurich. The airport now ranks as the eighth largest U.S. transatlantic gateway.

Anticipating future growth, officials on both sides of the Ohio River are either building or planning facilities.

On the Kentucky side, the new $29 million Northern Kentucky Convention Center is expected to open in 1998. The facility, which will feature a 50,000-square-foot exhibit hall, is one of several new riverfront projects, including a parking garage for the convention center and new government buildings.

A major boost to the convention center project came earlier this year when Marriott announced plans to build a $34 million hotel that will be attached to the center. Officials hope that the hotel, coupled with the convention center, will serve as a magnet for other lodging suppliers. "Marriott's decision to build a property next to the convention center may help attract other full-service hotels to the area," said Barbara Dozier, vice president of marketing for the Northern Kentucky Convention & Visitors Bureau. "It's an internationally recognized upscale brand that business travelers trust, and now other hotels may want to compete and become part of the convention package."

For its part, downtown Cincinnati is looking at expanding the Dr. Albert B. Sabin Convention Center.

Although the expansion still is in the planning stage, a feasibility study conducted by Price Waterhouse strongly supports the need for expansion. In fact, the report concluded that the facility must be doubled in size in order to regain lost market share, which has been moving to other midwestern destinations such as Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio, according to Beth Charlton, a spokesperson for the Bureau.

Currently, metropolitan Cincinnati plays host to about 650 meetings and conventions annually, with the largest gatherings held at the Sabin Center. On average, the 300,000-square-foot, three-level building attracts 40 major conventions a year.

"We're currently trying to pull together a funding package, and if we stay on schedule, expansion should be completed by the year 2001," Kremp said.

Situated in the heart of downtown, the center is linked to hotels, banks, shopping, restaurants and nightclubs via a 13-block enclosed pedestrian skywalk. It also is connected to more than 5,000 adjacent parking spaces.

The main exhibit hall on the first floor, which contains 162,000 square feet of exhibit space and can accommodate up to 845 booths, also can be divided into three separate halls. Each hall features its own entrances, show management offices, ticket offices and coat checks. Other facilities include meeting rooms, a ballroom, VIP suite and full-service banquet kitchen capable of serving large groups.

More than 3,000 first-class hotel rooms are located within a 2 1/2-block radius of the convention center, including two of the city's most popular properties for business travelers: the 886-room Regal Cincinnati and the 485-room Hyatt Regency.