Convention bureau grows BY JENNIFER BISSELL
jbissell@westfairinc.com
S
ince the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau became a statewide organization in June, its hotel, restaurant and venue membership has increased more than 20 percent. The membership drive for the newly formed Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau (CTCSB) has been going very well, said Michael Van Parys, CTCSB president. About 36 hotels have joined since July, including many in Fairfield County. “We’ve developed a lot of members we didn’t have before, from Greenwich to Mystic,” Van Parys said. “It really gives them great exposure where they had none before.” The primary function of the bureau is to go after out-of-state group business looking for venues to hold conventions and large meetings. Since Fairfield County often has to compete with New York City for large events and doesn’t have a convention center nearby, the bureau could help secure more new opportunities for the area. “This is something we’ve needed to do for a long time,” said Randy Fiveash, director of the Connecticut Office of Tourism under the Department of Economic and Community Development, at a CTCSB press conference in June. “Tourism is economic development and it is one of the purest forms of economic development.” Van Parys finished a statewide hotel tour earlier this month, touting the benefits for hotels that join the bureau. Nearly every hotel he’s visited has joined, including The J House, Delmar and Hyatt Regency hotels in Greenwich, and Hotel Zero Degrees, the Marriott, Sheraton and Hilton hotels in Stamford, to name a few. Next the bureau will be looking to increase its restaurants, venues and transportation memberships. CTCSB is funded by membership dues and also in part by a $1.3 million investment from the state out of its $15 million tourism-marketing budget. Van Parys said the bureau has been “riding the coattails”
of the tourism campaign, but focused is on group business instead of individual tourists. Last year the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau generated 65,000 nightly hotel-room leads. Since
The primary function of the bureau is to go after out-of-state group business looking for venues to hold conventions and large meetings. Since Fairfield County often has to compete with New York City for large events and doesn’t have a convention center nearby, the bureau could help secure more new opportunities for the area.
almost doubling its sales team to nine employees, the bureau has generated 34,000 leads in the last two months, Van Parys said. The group’s goal for the end of the year is 200,000 leads. With roughly 790,000 hotel rooms to rent during the year in just the five largest hotels in Stamford, Joe Kelly, general manager at Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa, said the initiative was needed and much appreciated. Speaking for smaller hotels, Jillian Alps, a past president of Connecticut Lodging Association and general manager of Residence Inn, Shelton, said the new bureau would also give smaller hotels that can’t as easily compete a voice as well. “This energizes those of us who have supported tourism initiatives,” Alps said. “We needed this.”
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