At Deadline

Foundation Awards $8,500 Grant to Arts Council

Starting with high expectations and receiving even higher results, the Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau announced today its sales growth for fiscal year 2003-2004.

Bureau management focused on improvement in several key measurement areas: projected economic impact, lead generation, confirmed hotel rooms and rental revenue for the Ontario Convention Center. According to the data, all areas have shown significant increases from the previous year:

• Total projected economic impact for events confirmed during current and future years equaled $24,390,880
• Projected economic impact increased 8.6 percent to $20,468,233 for events held in fiscal year 2003-2004
• Lead generation increased by 116 percent
• Hotel room booking pace increased by 19.5 percent—Ontario Convention Center rental revenue booking pace for current and future fiscal years increased by 17 percent
• Actual Ontario Convention Center rental revenue for the current fiscal year increased by 4.4 percent

“Through continuous aggressive sales efforts, along with a strategically integrated marketing campaign, we are seeing some tremendous results,” said Amita Patel, OCVB’s director of sales and marketing. “In fact, our research shows that one in three sales leads turned into confirmed business this past year.”

The region experienced an 18 percent increase in the number of events over the past two years, which far exceeded the national average by 30 percent. According to the August issue of Meetings and Conventions, the total number of meetings held nationwide was 155,625 in 2003, a 12 percent decline from 2001 when the total was 177,700.

The Convention Center confirmed 18 citywide conventions representing 31,073 room nights representing $15,018,618 in projected economic impact as well as seven new multi-year contracts representing 16,437 room nights and a $9,623,800 projected economic impact.