Quebec Awaits Enhanced Convention Center, New Hotels
The Montreal convention center this fall will wrap up a two-year, US$162 million renovation and expansion project that will double the size of the current facility's exhibition and conference space.
Once complete, the Palais des Congres de Montreal will take up an entire city block, with a total floor area of nearly 1.5 million square feet. Exhibition space will double to 200,000 square feet, with the number of booth spaces doubling to 1,000 and meeting and conference areas more than doubling to 59 rooms.
"I think we're third in North America for international conventions. This should help us on the international level to accommodate more people," said Gilles Bengle, director of media relations for Tourisme Montreal.
In addition to reconstructing the building itself, the project includes the construction of several pedestrian walkways with access to local hotels.
"Our objective is to attract major conventions or two medium-size conventions at once. Our facilities will allow for more flexibility," said Jocelyn Campbell, the convention center's director of communication.
Despite constant changes to the facility, the Palais des Congres has continued to host meetings and conventions since the renovation and expansion project began in spring 2000.
Although not planned to coincide with the reconstruction of the convention center, several hotels recently have opened in Old Montreal, the city's historic area. "There are many new boutique hotels in the old section within walking distance from the convention center," Bengle said. "There are about 400 hotel rooms in Montreal that are opening this year and about the same amount opened last year."
These properties include the Hotel Gault, with 30 loft-style rooms, the 40-room Hotel Nelligan, which includes 24 suites and three conference rooms and the Le Saint-Sulpice, a new condominium-style luxury hotel with 108 suites, a business center and meeting rooms.
Ten miles outside of Montreal and about four miles away from Dorval Airport, the Holiday Inn Airport Hotel was completely renovated in December with added facilities to attract business travelers. Among the renovations are 13 meeting rooms with the capacity for up to 350 attendees, 278 guest rooms and a new business center.
Meanwhile, Quebec City, which last spring attracted leaders from 34 countries and 7,000 attendees for the Summit of the Americas, plans to capitalize on its capacity to host large scale events and draw in more meetings and conventions as its appeal as a key business destination grows.
"It raised the profile of Quebec City and Canada very much, and has opened some new doors for business in the city," said Pierre Labrie, general manager for the Greater Quebec Area Tourism and Convention Bureau.
The Quebec City Convention Centre's exhibit hall has 75,000 square feet of meeting space, with the capacity for more than 410 exhibit booths. The convention hall consists of 34,500 square feet and holds 2,300 attendees for banquets and 3,500 people for full-scale events. The facility also includes 30 meeting rooms that can hold groups of 50 to 500 people.
"We're located right downtown by the old fortified city. It's like Europe without the jet lag and the cost," Martin said.
According to Martin, there are approximately 2,000 hotel rooms within walking distance of the Convention Centre, which is located about 20 minutes from the airport and is directly attached to both the Quebec Hilton and the Radisson Hotel Gouverneur Quebec—both accessible via an underground walkway system. Both of the hotels have undergone multimillion-dollar renovations in the past few years.
Since its $3.4 million renovation in mid-2000, the Radisson Hotel Gouverneurs in downtown Quebec continues to upgrade services and furnishings with a focus on the executive lounge, said Leone Besner, assistant to the hotel's general manager. In addition to these changes, which should be complete by late August, the hotel recently has installed Internet access through its television systems, in addition to the traditional in-room dataport modem access.