Looking ahead to 2013, the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau (PCVB) has more than 200 meetings and conventions booked from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 and continues to book groups for the year after surpassing last year’s booking goals.
Already-booked meetings and conventions will consume 534,005 total room nights, generating more than $867 million in economic impact for Philadelphia. Rising above a competitive meetings and conventions climate, the PCVB exceeded its 2012 fiscal year booking goal by more than 23,000 hotel room nights, securing a total of 833,334 for future years. A recently expanded convention center helped top projections for 2012.
“This was a great year in Philadelphia for meetings and conventions, which exceeded our expectations,” said Jack Ferguson, president and CEO, PCVB. “The 62 percent larger convention center has allowed us to book meetings that would not have been possible without the expansion, positively impacting our city and the entire hospitality community.”
The success from 2012 and projections for even more in 2013 affirm the critical role conventions, meetings and tradeshows have in the local economy.
“This past year is a great example of how important the convention center is to our hotels,” said Jim Gratton, president, Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association. “Our hotels rely much more on group business than our competitors, such as Boston and Washington D.C. We are very optimistic about the work of the PCVB going into 2013.”
In the first quarter of 2013, the Philadelphia will welcome two of the largest events: the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy March 17-21 with an estimated $39 million economic impact and the East Coast Volleyball tournament March 29-31 with an anticipated $33 million economic impact. Some noteworthy 2013 conventions and their estimated economic impacts include ellucian Live from April 7-10, $37 million; the American Thoracic Society from May 17-22, $43 million; and the National Urban League from July 24-29, $8 million.
Also slated during 2013 is the International Association of Chiefs of Police Oct. 19-23, $38 million; the U.S. Green Building Council Nov. 20-22, $33 million; and LIGHTFAIR International from April 21-25, $29 million.
“With the assistance of the PCVB, we already have $3.5 billion in business booked for future years,” said Ahmeenah Young, president and CEO, Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority. “Our center is a key economic engine for this region, the commonwealth and Philadelphia. All of our hospitality partners are fully engaged in the stewardship of the convention center to offer the finest customer experience.”
As part of continued efforts to sell Philadelphia as a premier meetings and conventions and global business destination, the PCVB recently launched an open-source initiative designed to tell Philadelphia’s new narrative as a “Modern Renaissance City” to convention attendees, international visitors, business prospects and others. A reworked website, www.discoverPHL.com, will support the PCVB’s international tourism and convention sales efforts in 2013 and beyond.
