Topic: Cincinnati: Conventions and Tourism News & Info

[UncleRando]

Convention season kicks off with a busy June and continues into July
http://www.pulsedt.com/blogs/default.asp?Display=2195

[oakiehigh]

Three conventions in town this week
BY THE ENQUIRER

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080616/NEWS01/806160374/1056/COL02

[UncleRando]

City spends almost $1 million to usher in convention
http://www.pulsedt.com/blogs/default.asp?Display=2333

[Cincinnatus]

^ Awesomeness.

[UncleRando]

How Cincinnati beat Las Vegas
Redemption, attention and a presidential election
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080706/NEWS01/807060330/1055/NEWS

[moonloop]

How Cincinnati beat Las Vegas
Redemption, attention and a presidential election
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080706/NEWS01/807060330/1055/NEWS

Great story. Anyone know when Obama will be speaking? I really would like to attend that speech.

[UncleRando]

Here is all the news about when the two will be speaking and where you can watch their speeches from...

Political spotlight on Cincy next week
http://www.urbancincy.com/2008/07/political-spotlight-on-cincy-next-week.html

[UncleRando]

Think the NAACP Conference was a big one with its 8,000 conventioners...try 10,000 for the League of United Latin American Citizens Convention that Cincinnati just landed.

Cincinnati wins 2011 LULAC convention
http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/07/14/daily29.html

[oakiehigh]

Wow!

[edale]

Great news!

[UncleRando]

City's reputation as host growing
http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/07/21/editorial1.html

[UncleRando]

Cincinnati scores with conventions Next up: National Baptist Annual Meeting
http://www.pulsedt.com/blogs/default.asp?Display=2642

The Rev. H.L. Harvey remembers the day he was walking through the Downtown neighborhood he knew so well.  What he was seeing profoundly troubled him.  The city he loved was reeling from a race riot played out before a national audience.  Tensions between the black community and police remained at the boiling point.  Businesses were closing.

"This is the town I was born in," says the pastor of New Friendship Baptist Church in Avondale.  "And I didn't want it to happen that way."

A thought struck him that day as he walked: Would it help Cincinnati recover if he and the city's leaders could entice the National Baptist Convention, the largest and oldest African-American religious organization in the country, into coming here?  On board with the same idea was Alicia Reece, who was serving on City Council at the time.

[oakiehigh]

City Puts Out Welcome Mat For National Baptist Convention

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f1dea401-6c54-437b-b152-a3a77c478204

[UncleRando]

Downtown Gearing Up for Next Big Convention
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=58cb9b18-ae8d-4d86-8f37-9815a30f6908

If it still feels like summer in Cincinnati and the local convention bureau warns that convention season is far from over, too.  Preparations are already underway for next week's huge National Baptist Convention downtown.

Jason Dunn with the Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau tells 9News, "All the things that are in [store] windows from Northern Kentucky all the way out to Blue Ash. We want them to feel welcome."

While overhead banners have already sprouted all over downtown streets to welcome that convention's 20,000 members and guests, more is coming.  Later Wednesday night, large sidewalk stickers will go on curbs around Fifth Street to direct visitors from the Duke Energy Center and the US Bank Center into downtown.

[UncleRando]

Downtown hotels sold out for baseball, Baptist Convention
http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/09/01/daily31.html

Several downtown Cincinnati hotels are sold out on Saturday because of the Cincinnati Reds game against the Chicago Cubs this weekend and the arrival of National Baptist Convention attendees for the national convention that runs from Sept. 8 to Sept. 12.

The Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau said the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, Millennium Hotel Cincinnati, The Westin Cincinnati and Hyatt Regency Cincinnati are sold out Saturday.  Those hotels also are sold out Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, based on data the bureau collected Aug. 31.

The Embassy Suites Cincinnati - RiverCenter in Covington also is sold out Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Marriott-Cincinnati RiverCenter in Covington is sold out Wednesday, according to the bureau.  The National Baptist Convention is expected to draw as many as 25,000 attendees.

[UCplanner]

GREAT NEWS

[UncleRando]

Downtown hotels beat the odds

Downtown hotels are bucking national trends as occupancy and room rates climb decisively, driven by a strong local convention business.  Though downtown vacancies still lag the national average, hospitality officials say Cincinnati is closing the gap with its competitors as they continue to rebuild the convention business.

Downtown hotels are slowly rebounding from their nadir in 2001, when hotels on average were nearly half empty and the region struggled not only with a national recession and the 9/11 aftermath but boycotts amid racial unrest and the Comair strike that closed down the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Full article at http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080912/BIZ01/309120063/1055/NEWS

[CincyDad]

He recalls Cincinnati lost a lot of business in the late 1990s as long-time groups outgrew the local center that had not been expanded in nearly 20 years.

as a point of reference, the Cincinnati Convention center was completely redone in the mid 1980s, not 1970s.  The convention center was doubled in size as the center expanded to 2 whole blocks, closing and taking over that section of Elm(?) street, I think it's called.

Anyway, I remember working for Cincinnati Bell at the time, supporting their repair department.  We got a call about how a contractor had taken his backhoe and dug down in the middle of that closed off Elm Street.  He hit the fiber-optic cable that went down the middle of the street.  Oopps.  This was probably 1986.

Just for your info - a major trunk of fiber optic communication cables run under the middle of the convention center, due to the convention center taking over the road space.  The FCC allowed Cincinnati Bell to keep the cable there under condition that a second, identical cable (batch of cables) was laid along side it so that if there were any problems, the phone company could switch to the back-up set.

But I suppose if anything drastic happens that takes out both sets of fiber cables running under the current convention center, they will have to dig up the main floor of the center
 

[UncleRando]

Cincinnati hotels redouble efforts to brace for tough 2009

Following a year of big-name conventions that drew national attention and tens of thousands of visitors, the Greater Cincinnati hotel industry is bracing for a tough 2009.  Hotel general managers don’t think the impact here will be as bad as in New York City and on the coasts, but they expect a lot more empty beds.

“There is absolutely no doubt this is a very difficult economic situation,” said Michel Sheer, general manager of the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza downtown.

Industry insiders have known for some time that 2009 would be difficult for local hotels, said Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Dan Lincoln. Big conventions generally are booked years in advance, and this looked to be an off year for such conventions even before the economy took a nosedive, he said.

Full article at http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/01/19/story2.html

[UncleRando]

Mr. Redlegs headed to NYC to promote Cincinnati tourism

The Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network is taking Cincinnati on the road to New York City Jan. 26 through Jan. 28 to promote tourism here in partnership with the Cincinnati Reds and the state of Ohio Travel and Tourism Department.

Mr. Redlegs, the official mascot of the Reds, also will make the trip to promote the baseball’s Opening Day in Cincinnati. The Reds will host the New York Mets at Great American Ball Park.

“The Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network has a great story to tell about the affordable, family experiences available in Cincinnati USA, and it just makes sense to lead off that story with the Cincinnati Reds, one of our most popular attractions,” Linda Antus, president of the Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network, said in a news release.

Full article at http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/01/19/daily44.html

[edale]

Nice! But are there really only 13 home weekend games? that can't be true...

[UncleRando]

Convention business up in 2008

Although 2008 was a year in which the nation continued its slide into recession, a key piece of the region’s economy – conventions – posted healthy growth during the year.  Figures to be released Thursday by the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau show that total room nights, the prime indicator of success in booking conventions, grew by 6.7 percent over 2007.

And while there will be some slowdown this year, the group is forecasting that the number of room nights booked will grow another 3 percent in 2009.  The figures were scheduled to be released at Thursday's annual meeting of the convention and visitors bureau, the group charged with attracting convention business to Hamilton County.

Full article at http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090211/BIZ01/302110031/1055/NEWS

[edale]

While I think downtown is definitely doing a better job of attracting locals, all the new businesses can't be supported entirely by people from the metro area.  We don't have a beach or mountains, and we're not a huge enough city to warrant a long trip, so an upswing in conventions, as well as attracting tourists from the region (Columbus, Indy, Louisville, Lexington) is pretty vital to the continued improvement of downtown.

[oakiehigh]

^streatcar falls in that category too!

[edale]

^Absolutely. And the Banks too.

[UncleRando]

Cincinnati tourism agency tweaking mantra as rough ’09 looms

After a year of strong growth in drawing visitors to the Tri-State for vacations and weekend getaways, the Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network has a new mantra for 2009:  “Flat is the new up.”

It’s not just Cincinnati. That’s the mantra for leisure travel professionals throughout the country this year, said Linda Antus, president of the RTN, the agency charged with bringing more tourists and out-of-town dollars to the region.

“Quite a few people would look at a flat year in 2009 as a good performance,” she said.  That’s in large part, of course, because the economy is so bad. Families worried about having enough money to pay their mortgage and keep food in the fridge tend to cut vacation spending from their budgets.

Full article at http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/02/23/story7.html

[UncleRando]

Pepper: Two CVBs should merge

Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper on Monday suggested merging the area’s two convention and visitors bureaus to help fund the expansion of the Sharonville Convention Center.  Currently one CVB markets the Cincinnati region and the other markets the county’s northern suburbs.  A countywide hotel tax pays for both and helped fund a Duke Energy Center expansion in 2006.

There have long been plans to also expand the Sharonville Convention Center to help the county market its northern suburbs.  That will require $1.3 million in hotel tax this year.  The Northern Cincinnati CVB wants another $800,000 for marketing.  There isn’t enough money to pay for both.

Cincinnati officials and Pepper suggest merging the two CVBs into a single bureau to market both areas, freeing up $800,000.  The northern communities oppose the idea.

Full article at http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090309/NEWS01/303090098/1055/NEWS

[UncleRando]

UrbanCincy breaks the story while the major news outlets wait for the 2pm press conference...

2009 Next Leaders Summit coming to Cincinnati
http://www.urbancincy.com/2009/03/2009-next-leaders-summit-coming-to.html

Mayor Mallory has scheduled a 2pm press conference where he will announce that Cincinnati has landed the 6th Annual Next Leaders Summit (formerly called the YP Summit). The convention will be held at the Duke Energy Convention Center downtown and take place during Oktoberfest week – September 17th – 19th.

The Next Leaders Summit is “dedicated to dialogue, experimentation and best practice sharing from within and outside the Young Professionals movement.” The Summit will bring in Young Professionals, and leaders in the YP community, from all over the nation.

The two-day plus conference will provide the next wave of leaders a chance to learn, engage and interact with national and local leaders, and socialize at after hours events throughout Cincinnati. The Summit is sponsored by Next Generation Consulting and hosted by Mayor Mallory’s Young Professionals Kitchen Cabinet (YPKC), who had the honor of being awarded the YPO “Best Practices” Award at last year’s Summit in Florida.

In addition to the "Best Practices" Award, Cincinnati also made the list of Best Cities in the U.S. for Next Gen Workers coming in at #7 for cities with populations between 200,000 - 500,000. Columbus, Ohio took the #10 spot for cities with more than 500,000 people.

Partial agenda items for 6th Annual Next Leaders Summit:

• Learn about their individual leadership strengths, and how to leverage them at work and with their Young Professionals Organization (YPO);
• Have an immersion course in online and offline community organizing. (How did Obama do it? You'll learn the techniques and technologies here.)
• Meet with YPO leaders from similarly sized cities to talk about issues relevant to small, medium and large cities.

[oakiehigh]

National convention group beats projected attendance by 10%
Business Courier of Cincinnati

The U.S. Institute for Theater Technology this week has exceeded its estimated hotel room night consumption by about 10 percent, the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau announced.

The group is a nonprofit membership association of people and organizations involved in design and technical aspects of live performing arts and entertainment. Its meeting here runs from March 18 through March 21.

The group had originally contracted for 5,058 hotel room nights. But as of March 17, convention attendees have booked 5,560 room nights — 502 more than originally expected. Attendees will be staying at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza, Hyatt Regency Cincinnati and the Millennium Hotel. Sessions will take place at the Duke Energy Convention Center and the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. Anticipated attendance for the event is 3,800 and brings an estimated economic impact of $1.6 million.

Full article at http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/03/16/daily59.html

[UncleRando]

I took a spin through Downtown around midnight when I got in last night and I saw groups of about 10-15 people walking around.  I'm guessing it was from this convention.  They looked to be enjoying themselves and the city.

[oakiehigh]

Cincinnati lands gospel music convention
Business Courier of Cincinnati

The Gospel Music Workshop of America has picked Cincinnati as the location of its 2009 annual convention, according to the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau. 

The CVB has scheduled a Thursday news conference on Fountain Square to divulge details of the event.  The convention will take place July 25-31 in conjunction with the annual Macy’s Music Festival, according to a media advisory.  Sources familiar with the event expect Cincinnati to notch about 12,000 room nights from convention attendees.

The GWMA’s Web site describes the convention as a “week-long gathering including academic classes, evangelism and outreach, nightly music services, showcases, radio and television executives and promoters, exhibits and seminars.”

Full article at http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/03/30/daily50.html?surround=

[UncleRando]

Tourism network launches 2009 plan

The Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network today unveiled its 2009 plan for bringing more tourists and leisure spending to Greater Cincinnati.

Based on ongoing visitor research and a recent independent study of some of Cincinnati’s most loyal visitors, the RTN is focusing its marketing efforts on a combination of traditional media with increased internet marketing and strategic social media programs. The tone and strategy will encourage visitors to “seize the weekend” and enjoy the variety of attractions the region has to offer with heavy promotion in Columbus, Indianapolis and Louisville.

The tourism agency announced its plan at an event attended by hospitality and civic leaders timed with the Cincinnati Reds’ Opening Day. Dressed in a No. 10 Reds jersey, RTN President Linda Antus called the timing fitting since the Reds are a key partner in the agency’s marketing efforts.

Full article at http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/04/06/daily6.html

[edale]

What is the Gillette Civil Rights Game???

[UncleRando]

What is the Gillette Civil Rights Game???

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090407&content_id=4149916&vkey=news_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin

[oakiehigh]

Got my tics for this game!!