Visit Buffalo Niagara 2015 annual report

JOE CASCIO

RHEA ANNA

RHEA ANNA

JOE CASCIO

A T R AV E L E R R E V I E W

“ We had a great year!”

Reviewed by Patrick K., a TripAdvisor traveler » Buffalo, NY » March 1, 2016

VISIT BUFFALO NIAGARA 2015 ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW What a year! Visit Buffalo Niagara broke records in meetings bookings, media relations and more. And this is only the beginning of Buffalo’s renaissance. We can’t wait to continue promoting the rebirth of Buffalo!

Dear Friend of Tourism,

I

t’s amazing to think how the Buffalo Niagara region has changed for the better since I first arrived here two years ago. Interest in our region as a travel destination has never been greater as publications across the world covered Buffalo’s resurgence in 2015, from The New York Times to The Guardian in London and El Comercio in Lima, Peru.

It’s easy to see why this interest is so high. The Queen City’s redeveloped waterfront, restored architectural gems and influx of new attractions, hotels, restaurants, breweries and distilleries are helping usher in a new chapter of the city’s history and increase the region’s value proposition to potential visitors.

This rebirth is also providing our sales department with new opportunities to attract conventions and sporting events, which brought a record $147 million in future economic impact to Erie County in 2015. VBN’s new Bring it Home initiative is appealing to Buffalonians with a tie to state or national conventions, meetings or sport tournaments to partner with us in attracting those events to our region.

Conventions and sporting events secured in 2015 like the National Homeland Security Conference and World Junior Hockey Championship will only grow our reputation for stellar service and unparalleled value in future years. And a media and sales mission to the United Kingdom in conjunction with the Buffalo Bills game at Wembley Stadium last fall has planted the seed for more overseas travel writers and group tour operators to visit. VBN is already active in the international market and in 2015 attracted tour groups from as far away as Germany, Australia, China and South America, so we can’t wait to see what our London efforts bring us in future years.

It’s a new day in Buffalo.

Visit Buffalo Niagara is excited to be on the front lines of promoting this renaissance and welcoming visitors to our resurgent region. Our media relations department had a record year spreading the word about this rebirth, helping place over 230 stories around the country and the world worth over $4 million in ad equivalency value in outlets like USATODAY.com, the Toronto Star and the Associated Press. VBN’s new downtown Buffalo visitor center saw a 23.5% increase in traffic in 2015 over 2014, bolstered by monthly open house events featuring giveaways of favorite Buffalo foods like beef on weck and chicken wings.

Our new website launched in early 2015 told Buffalo’s story in a fresh, innovative way, and our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages added thousands of new followers interested in the region. We continued our marketing campaign with the Niagara Tourism & Convention Corporation in the key market of Southern Ontario, and partnered with the city of Buffalo to advertise in bus shelters across New York City.

With the upcoming completion of the Martin House Complex restoration, opening of the Hotel Henry at the Richardson Olmsted Complex and ongoing developments along Buffalo’s waterfront, the opportunities to market the area to leisure travelers and meeting planners alike will only continue to grow in the coming years. The VBN team couldn’t be more thrilled to lead the charge on promoting the new Buffalo. We’ve only just begun!

Very truly yours,

PATRICK J. KALER President and CEO Visit Buffalo Niagara

JUST THE FACTS: 2015 AT A GLANCE

VBN CONVENTION, SPORTS & GROUP TOUR SALES

$147 million Future economic impact

527

Conventions, meetings, amateur athletic events or group tours booked

280,108 People attended events at the Convention Center

847

sales leads

Hotel room nights booked

BUFFALO NIAGARA CONVENTION CENTER

161

Events hosted

276

Days the Center was occupied

BUFFALO NIAGARA SPORTS COMMISSION

87,614 Hotel room nights

30,000

Hotel room nights utilized due to events at the Center

168

Amateur sporting events serviced in 2015

VBN MARKETING

$ 4.1

million

Media value of out-of-town media coverage

230

Out-of-town media placements

89

Local media placements

1,322,935 YouTube views

889,000

Unique visits to the website,

1,635 YouTube subscribers

3

VISITBUFFALONIAGARA.COM

114,912 Attendance

171,381

2015 ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW

Buffalo’s renaissance was in full swing in 2015; new hotels, attractions and restaurants helped Record transform the city. And VBN took full advantage of this renaissance! The earned media value breaking figures are in VBN’s media relations team produced grew by more than $2.5 million from 2014, a new record, red while the total number of non-local placements grew by over 100 percent. VBN’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages collectively gained more than 15,000 fans and followers in 2015.

The sales team booked 527 pieces of business in 2015, up from 460 the year before. It also secured 171,381 future hotel room nights and 847 sales leads. The Buffalo Niagara Sports Commission excelled in 2015 too, servicing 168 total events that generated over 114,912 attendees and 87,614 hotel room nights.

GAINING VISITOR EXPERTISE

Reintroducing Canadians to the Queen City

Visit Buffalo Niagara worked with Young Strategies to conduct a Visitor Profile report for the destination in

Visit Buffalo Niagara, working in

hopes of learning more about

collaboration with the Niagara Tourism

our customers, identifying

& Convention Corp. with support from

need periods at our lodging

Brand USA and a CFA grant from New York

properties, developing

State, has continued the implementation of a multifaceted integrated

strategies to increase demand

marketing campaign in southern Ontario. The campaign features

and identifying opportunities

digital banner advertising, Facebook advertising, paid search, television

for improved sales and

advertising, newspaper advertising, out of home advertising, media

marketing efforts. The results

relations, social media, YouTube videos and

concluded that VBN should

e-newsletter communications.

SHOP BUFFALO NIAGARA

As of January 31st, the 2015-16 campaign

spring and fall to increase

has yielded 115,000 website visitors,

hotel occupancy. Based on

21.4 million impressions, 1.7 million

VBN’s budget, the report

engagements, 338,000 video views,

recommended that we focus

more than 19,000 new leads for our

our efforts on nearby markets

database and 860,000 emails delivered.

such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland,

The campaign concluded at the end of

Rochester, Jamestown

February 2016 and a conversion study

and Southern Ontario. The

will be available in mid-April.

information collected from this study coupled with the host of other research studies we have access to will continue to shape our efforts going forward.

Raising the Stakes on Marketing Buffalo VBN partnered with the Seneca Gaming Corporation for a second year to collaborate on marketing Buffalo throughout the surrounding region. Part of the casino’s advertising budget is now used for promoting Buffalo to consumers within a four-hour radius.

The agreement has allowed VBN to market Buffalo with an enhanced frequency and reach.

RHEA ANNA

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focus on need periods in the

A TRAVELER REVIEW

“Wonderful Arts & Cr afts Era

Renovation”

Reviewed by Philont heroad, a TripAdvisor traveler » Chicago IL » June 28, 2014

ROYCROFT INN “This historic inn

is across the street from the Roycroft wonderful newly Campus, which is created furniture, an active craft works lamps, and other hop with The food is top quality Arts & Crafts pieces and we enjoyed . The restaurant is a warm summer excellent. evening dinner on the porch.”

VisitBuffaloNiaga

The Nearest Farawa y Place

ra.com » 1.800.BU FFALO

A Digitally Savvy Destination Visit Buffalo Niagara continued its digital marketing efforts with guidance and execution from our digital agency, eBrains. VBN’s efforts included e-newsletter distribution to its list of 90,000 subscribers, SEO/ advertising. As of December 31st, our 2015 domestic digital campaign has yielded 102,000 website visitors, 8.7 million impressions, 454,000 engagements, 17,500 new leads and 4.3 million emails delivered.

A conversion study will be available in mid-April.

Employing this multifaceted strategy, eBrains delivered the following high-level metrics:

Content is King VBN made significant strides in 2015 to tell more stories about Buffalo using its own website and social media channels. The VBN staff and a team of contributing writers published more than 120 blogs about Buffalo in 2015, nearly double the total amount

8,700,000 454,000 impressions

engagements

in 2014, about everything from new restaurant

2015 ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW

SEM, lead generation, Facebook cloning and display

roundups to architecture and history trivia.

In addition, the VBN team employed a summer social media campaign, #Buffalove15, that yielded more

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than 6,000 photos showcasing the best of Buffalo – more than double the results of our summer 2014

website visitors

17,500 new email leads to our database

media channels through the summer months and led to the creation of a user-generated Youtube video, “This is Buffalo,” that’s garnered over 2,500 views.

BUFFALO IN LONDON With the Buffalo Bills playing an NFL game in London,

We partnered with the Buffalo Bills to hand out team

members of the sales and marketing team took

gear to our VIP guests and made our presence known in

advantage of the opportunity and traveled overseas to

London by wrapping a taxi in Buffalo branding.

meet with 50 group sales agents and a dozen media.

VISITBUFFALONIAGARA.COM

102,000

campaign. These photos helped power VBN’s social

Buffalo’s Hotel Boom Hoteliers are taking notice of Buffalo’s renaissance.

to the marketplace last year. Even with this influx of new

Over 550 new rooms (a 5.5% increase) came online in

rooms, occupancy still exceeded the national average for

2015, including the Marriott HarborCenter, Hyatt Place in

several months during 2015.

Amherst and Aloft Buffalo Airport. The year saw demand increase by 2.4 percent, while occupancy locally decreased slightly as a result of the increase in room inventory added

MONTHLY OCCUPANCY PERCENTAGE, 2015 90%

82.9 82.0

80%

SMITH TRAVEL RESEARCH ERIE COUNTY HOTEL REPORT

OCCUPANCY

2015 62.2%

6

AVERAGE RATE

$101.23

70%

62.3 60% 54.4

HOTEL REVENUES

50%

$235,913,402

2014 64.1%

$99.56

$228,301,134

2013 65.4%

$101.23

$235,913,402

2012 66.4%

$93.92

$209,550,115

40%

66.8 66.8 57.3

49.3

67.3

75.3

73.9 73.1

67.5

70.8 70.7

56.8

59.4 53.0

51.4

43.9

43.1

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

ERIE COUNTY

A Record Breaking Event

69.1 67.9 66.5

NATIONAL AVERAGE

Trapping Success The National Trapper’s Association held its annual convention at the Hamburg Fairgrounds and

In April, Buffalo hosted the largest ever USA

Event Center last July, drawing 2,000 sports

Disabled Hockey Festival. The festival drew 72

vendors and enthusiasts from around the country

teams and 1,000 participants, generating an

who generated over $2.5 million in estimated

estimated economic impact of over $1 million.

economic impact.

15 IN ‘15 Below are 15 major conventions and events that came to Buffalo in 2015, in order of the most significant economic impact.

NAME

ESTIMATED ECONOMIC IMPACT

DATE

ATTENDEES

New York State Board of Law Examiners

$3,901,196

July 26-29

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 Production

$3,050,200

May 3-16

450

Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ COOLJC

$2,919,032

April 6-13

2,000

NYSUT

$2,698,481

April 27-May 2

3,000

Civil Service Employees Association

$2,426,515

Oct. 3-8

1,600

American Legion, State of New York

$2,411,935

July 13-17

2,000

USA Hockey

$2,456,591

March 25-30

1,200

North American Prospects Showcase

$2,341,970

June 18-20

2,400

National Trappers Association, Inc.

$2,234,548

July 26-Aug. 2

2,000

Pepsi-Cola Invitational

$2,160,476

April 1-4

2,500

Amherst Youth Hockey

$2,159,488

March 5-7

2,000

SUNYAC Conference

$1,787,658

Feb. 18-22

200

New Era Cap

$1,466,875

July 16-18

1,750

National Conference of Catechetical Leadership – NCLL

$1,116,404

May 15-21

600

Catholic Press Association

$879,635

June 21-27

400

2,800

BRINGING IT HOME FOR BUFFALO VBN’s sales department launched the Bring It Home initiative in the fall of 2015. Bring It Home is designed to encourage

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locals with a tie to a state or national convention,

C FOR CIATION GY, THE ASSO N TECHNOLO TIO PRESERVATERNATIONAL IN

meeting or sports tournament to bring that event home to Buffalo. VBN’s sales team makes it easy for

ACT MIC IMP ECONO

00

$939,8

bring these events to the Queen City.

Home T BRING I

Sportss Meetinngts Eve

Jim Bojanowski (American Legion) and Barbara Campagna (The Association For Preservation Technology, International) are two of several Buffalonians who

KC KRATT

agreed to share their experiences about helping to bring their organization conferences here for the campaign. Bring it Home couldn’t come at a better time for Buffalo,

with the collective enthusiasm about recent

BRING IT MEETINGS, SPORTS & CONVENTIONS Buffalo seemed to make great sense on so many levels – world class architecture and preservation projects, amazing historic and cultural venues for our various

Home.

MEAN BUSINESS TO BUFFALO NIAGARA. Canadian members, and close to Toronto’s airport for our international members.

We are expecting our largest conference in Buffalo – over 1,000 attendees.

events, easy to get to for our American and Help bring your association or sports event home to Buffalo. Learn more at BringItHomeBuffalo.com.

BringItHomeBuffalo.com

2015 ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW

those locals by collaborating with them to

improvements and new developments here at an all-time high.

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All Roads Lead to Buffalo established relationships with some of the largest global travel

The Buffalo Niagara Sports Commission

brokers, which influences our position to gain more of the market

partnered with Indianapolis-based

share in Europe and Asia.

TSE Consulting in 2015 to create a

Buffalo’s appeal to international group tour operators continues to grow. Last year, VBN attracted tours from as far away as Australia,

master plan for expanding and growing Buffalo and Erie County as an amateur athletics destination. The TSE report, released in early 2016, made several recommendations for the Buffalo Niagara region to grow the industry over the next decade, including adding new sports facilities and updating existing ones. VBN plans to engage in dialogue with various community stakeholders over the coming year to discuss making some of those recommendations a reality.

VISITBUFFALONIAGARA.COM

China, the United Kingdom, South America, and Germany. VBN

CREATING A BLUEPRINT FOR SPORTS SUCCESS

New Website for the New Buffalo VBN’s online presence took on a completely different look and feel in 2015 with the launch of our new website. VBN’s goal of inspiring potential visitors was accomplished through powerful imagery and video and bringing our fresh blog content to the forefront of the site. The new website has been met with positive reviews from locals, visitors and industry peers. VBN welcomed over 889,000 users

INFORMING BUFFALO’S TOURISM INDUSTRY Visit Buffalo Niagara has ramped up its efforts to keep our hotel, restaurant and attraction partners informed about all there is to see and do within the region.

VBN organized two bus tours around the city for frontline staff highlighting new developments and nightlife options around Buffalo, providing them with fresh ideas to share with visitors. In addition, a destination marketing summit held in October drew over 200 attendees to learn more about social media, storytelling, public relations and more.

to the website with plans of growing

A new newsletter, Buffalo Niagara

those numbers year over year.

This Week, gives hotel staffs and other tourism industry partners a weekly update of things to do to share with Buffalo visitors. Its subscriber base grew from 300 to 600 in its inaugural year.

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BY THE NUMBERS Tourism Insider, a quarterly newsletter about VBN initiatives  3,702 SUBSCRIBERS Travel Pulse, a monthly e-update on visitor statistics  1,274 SUBSCRIBERS

Welcoming Visitors In late 2014, Visit Buffalo Niagara moved its visitor center and

Number of VBN volunteers  2 00+ PROVIDING OVER 1,200 SERVICE HOURS

corporate offices to the Brisbane Building in Lafayette Square.

That move paid off over the course of 2015, with the downtown visitor center seeing a 23.5 % increase in visitors over the previous year.

A series of monthly events bolstered those numbers; VBN partnered with Perry’s Ice Cream, Charlie the Butcher, the Buffalo Bisons, the National Buffalo Wing Festival, the Erie County Fair and other community stakeholders to distribute free classic Buffalo foods like chicken wings and beef on weck and offer discounts on merchandise.

Explore Buffalo also began using the visitor center as a starting point for several of its tours, further adding to the increase.

Total Visitor Center Referrals OVER

28,000

TRAV EL

TO

Hospitality and Tourism Management. Here are the 2015 honorees: P R E S E N T E D

OUTSTANDING LODGING EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

OUTSTANDING TOURISM VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

Mark Linde Buffalo Niagara Marriott

Sharon Cramer

OUTSTANDING LODGING MANAGER OF THE YEAR

OUTSTANDING TOURISM EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

Blake Bednarz Buffalo Niagara Marriott

E. Frits Abell Echo Arts Fair and Buffalo Expat Network

OUTSTANDING LODGING G.M. OF THE YEAR

B Y

Richardson Center BRING IT HOME AWARD – SPORTS

Norm Page USA Sled Hockey BRING IT HOME AWARD – CONVENTIONS

Venkat Krovi ASME

OUTSTANDING TOURISM INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR

Craft Beer Tourism

OUTSTANDING TOURISM EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR

BUFFALO AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR

Sandy Starks Forest Lawn Cemetery

George Grasser and Bill Tyne CNU 22

RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR

Charlie Roesch Charlie the Butcher TIM RUSSERT AWARD

Russell Salvatore Russell’s/Salvatore’s Grand Hotel

The Seal of Approval Visit Buffalo Niagara received accreditation in 2015 from the Destination Marketing Association International’s Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP).

The DMAP seal illustrates a destination marketing organization’s commitment to industry excellence and to raising the performance and accountability of DMOs across the tourism industry. By receiving this accreditation, VBN is committing CEO Patrick Kaler and Bring it Home-Sports winner Norm Page

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to the best practices industrywide to market Buffalo as an exciting visitor destination. VBN also received exemplary recognition for marketing innovation and its strategic plan from DMAI.

VISITBUFFALONIAGARA.COM

Bob Karmazyn Courtyard by Marriott Downtown

2015 ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW

Visit Buffalo Niagara’s Beacon Awards, which recognize excellence in Buffalo’s tourism and hospitality industry, attracted nearly 600 attendees to the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center last May. At the ceremony, VBN gave away its first $1,000 scholarship in collaboration with the Hotel/Motel Association to Melanie Ulrich, a senior from Williamsville East who is attending Niagara University’s College of

&

ISM UR

A BEACON OF EXCELLENCE

HOT OFF THE PRESS Buffalo’s media relations initiatives reached new heights in 2015. VBN hosted three dozen travel writers for press trips in 2015 and helped facilitate media coverage that led to more than 230 stories about the Queen City’s resurgence in markets as distant as the United Kingdom, Germany and Peru. Some of the prominent media outlets that VBN helped secure stories in include The New York Times, The Associated Press, The Guardian, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, USATODAY.com, Forbes.com and the Toronto Star.

Collectively, the stories were worth $4.1 million in ad equivalency value, the amount the editorial coverage would have cost if it were instead sold as advertising space, as measured by BurellesLuce. That figure is also a record and up from $1.6 million in 2014 and $900,000 in 2013.

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The Center of Attention The Buffalo Niagara Convention Center (BNCC) had another successful year as Buffalo’s most expansive conference and event space. More than 281,000 people attended 161 different events over the course of the year. These events contributed more than $32 million to the local economy, based on the Association of Venue Managers calculator. Among the notable events hosted at the Center were the bi-annual New York State Board of Law Examiners bar exams, NYSUT, the National Association for Campus Activities and the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership. Collectively, these events led to 30,000 room night bookings at surrounding hotels. The BNCC had another stellar year of service, too, earning an impressive score of 4.76/5 on the Guest Satisfaction Survey.

300,000 161 people attended different events

WHAT’S AHEAD IN 2016

} The NHL Draft, June 20-26, 2016, will bring NHL club executives, scouts and coaches to Buffalo for several days.

More than 15,000 fans and 500 print, television and radio media are expected to attend. The 2016 event will mark the third time the Sabres and the city of Buffalo have hosted the NHL Draft, and the second time the event will be at the First Niagara Center. The NHL Draft will have an economic impact of over $9.2 million. } The National Softball Association tournament Girls’ Fast Pitch World Series, July 17-22, is expecting up to 150 teams plus family

members and friends for a total of over 3,500 people generating an economic impact of over $3 million. The tournament will take place at Sunshine Park and Fireman’s Park in West Seneca and the Amherst Audubon Recreation Complex.

} The National Association of State Alcohol & Drug Abuse, Sept. 11-16, will bring over 650 attendees, requiring 1,900 hotel room nights and generating over $887,000 in economic impact. NASADAD’s basic purpose is to foster and support the development of effective alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and treatment programs throughout every state. } The New York State School Boards Association on Oct. 25-30 will bring more than 3,000 conference attendees, require over 3,700 hotel room nights and generate an economic impact of over $2.7 million. The New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) is the statewide voice for the interests of public boards of education.

2015 VISIT BUFFALO NIAGARA BOARD OF DIRECTORS Law Offices of Francis A. Letro

Dennis P. Murphy

InnVest Lodging Services, Inc.

Donald K. Boswell

WNY Public Broadcasting Association

Minesh Patel

Adam’s Mark Hotel

Steve Boyd, Esq.

Steve Boyd, P.C.

Gary D. Praetzel, Ph.D. Niagara University

Jonathan A. Dandes

Rich Baseball Operations

Edward A. Rath, III

Erie County Legislature

Thomas Dearing

County of Erie

Mary F. Roberts

Martin House Restoration Corporation

James T. Sandoro

The Buffalo Transportation Pierce Arrow Museum

Dottie Gallagher-Cohen Buffalo Niagara Partnership C. Douglas Hartmayer NFTA Lesley Haynes Erie County Legislature Appointment Patrick J. Kaler

Visit Buffalo Niagara

Randall Kramer

MusicalFare Theatre

Kerry C. Mitchell

County of Erie Appointment

Paul Snyder, III, CEO Snyder Corporation Toni L. Vazquez

County of Erie Appointment

Maria Whyte

County of Erie

Leslie H. Zemsky

Larkin Square

2015 COMMITTEES Executive Committee CHAIR:

Dennis P. Murphy

InnVest Lodging Services, Inc.

TREASURER :

COMMITTEE MEMBERS CHAIR-ELECT:

Jonathan A. Dandes VICE CHAIR:

Donald K. Boswell PRESIDENT:

Patrick Kaler

SECRETARY:

Dottie Gallagher-Cohen Buffalo Niagara Partnership Mary F. Roberts

Rich Baseball Operations WNED Visit Buffalo Niagara

Martin House Restoration Corp.

COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES:

Maria Whyte Thomas Dearing

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR:

Gary D. Praetzel

County of Erie County of Erie Niagara University

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VISITBUFFALONIAGARA.COM

Cindy Abbott-Letro

2015 ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW

} The Multiple District 20, Lions Club of New York State & Bermuda, Inc will hold its convention in Buffalo from May 11-15.

The convention will bring together almost 800 attendees at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center occupying upwards of 1,000 hotel room nights for an economic impact of over $883,000.

The meetings will further the Lions Club’s mission of service to people who are blind and visually-impaired.

Budget/Finance/Audit Committee CHAIR:

Mary F. Roberts

Martin House Restoration Corp

STAFF: David Marzo

Chief Financial Officer

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Steve Boyd, Esq.

Steve Boyd, P.C.

Toni Vazquez

County of Erie Appointment

Sales Committee STAFF: Mike Even

VP of Sales

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

12

Phil Alterio

Buffalo Niagara Marriott

Mark Bibb

Adam’s Mark

Julie Bishop

Hyatt Place

Mark Brown

Buffalo Lodging

Melissa Burke

Buffalo Niagara Convention Center

Missy Byrne

Embassy Suites Buffalo

Wendy Clubine

Buffalo Lodging

Joyce Curry

Millenium Hotel Buffalo

Jay Dellavecchia

Hyatt Regency Buffalo

Jessica DiVita

Ramada Hotel & Conference Center

John Dubreville

Hale Northeastern

Ann Dugan

Buffalo Lodging

Amy Engler

Springhill Suites Buffalo Airport

Peter Florczak

Buffalo Niagara Marriott

Kelly Fox

Hilton Garden Inn Buffalo Downtown

Barbara Hughes

AAA

Bill Karches

Best Western Plus Inn at Lackawanna

Thomas Keane

Hart Hotels

Dave Lacki

Ellicott Development

Paul Murphy

Buffalo Niagara Convention Center

Gary Pacioni

Comfort Suites Airport

Russ Papia

The Westin Buffalo

Megan Porter

Hampton Inn & Suites Buffalo Airport

Nicholas Salvatore Garden Place Hotel Edwin Shelp

Adam’s Mark

Jillian Smith

Hotel @ The Lafayette

Matt Spencer

Comfort Suites

Timothy Stone

Hampton Inn & Suites Buffalo Downtown

Renee Stupski-Pundt Doubletree Club by Hilton Sue Walker

Hart Hotels

Cheryl Zanghi

Buffalo Marriott HarborCenter

Marketing Committee CHAIR: Leslie Zemsky

Larkin Square

STAFF: Ed Healy

VP of Marketing

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

E. Frits Abell

Impact Industries

Jim Charlier

JCharlier Communication Design

Jason Clement

The Pop-In

C. Douglas Hartmayer NFTA Dana Marciniak

Delaware North Companies

Katie McKenna

University at Buffalo

Diana Principe

The Mansion on Delaware Avenue

Mary Roberts Martin House Restoration Corporation Kathleen Rooney Kathleen Rooney Communications Maria Scully-Morreale Albright-Knox Art Gallery Sara Serafin

Canalside Buffalo

James T. Sandoro Buffalo Transportation/ Pierce-Arrow Museum Zach Specht

Pegula Sports & Entertainment

Sandy White

Freelance Writer

2015 BUFFALO NIAGARA SPORTS COMMISSION ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIR:

Rich Baseball Operations STAR Swimming Buffalo Bills Buffalo Bisons Niagara University Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation D’Youville College

Drew Cerza Just Wing It Productions Christopher Ciamaga HarborCenter Ryan Coate Spectra Therese Forton-Barnes Events to a Tee Sean Green Riverworks Kathleen Gregoire Skating Club of WNY Eric Guzdek Northtown Center at Amherst C. Douglas Hartmayer NFTA

Perry Jenkins University at Buffalo Peter Jerebko Erie Community College Leo Kaminsky NYSPHSAA John Lambert University at Buffalo John Maddock Canisius College Bill Maher Canisius College Lynn Marinelli Empire State

Development Corp.

Ron Raccuia AdPro Team Sports Edward Rath, Jr. Erie County Legislature Bob Schell Amherst Youth Hockey Lisa Scherer Scherer Event Management Timm Slade Section VI Charles C. Swanekamp, Esq. Jaeckle, Fleischmann & Mugel Jennifer Van Rysdam First Niagara Center

2015 VISIT BUFFALO NIAGARA STAFF Kathy Benzel

Information Technology Manager

Patrick Kaler

Michele Butlak

Accounting and Benefits Manager

Cindy Kincaide Director, Industry Relations & Destination Development

Giovanni Centurione

Information Specialist

Tracy Martell

Lindsay Carucci

Sport Services Manager

David Marzo

Chief Financial Officer

Karen Cox

Convention Services Manager

Leah Mueller

Tourism Sales Director

Linda D’Agostino

Director of Sales & Government Relations

Danielle Pastor

Administrative Assistant

Denise Drews

Visitor Center Manager

Allison Pawarski

Sports Sales and Services Manager

Michael Even

Vice President of Sales & Services

Mary Jane Poleto

Information Specialist

Karen Fashana

Director of Marketing

Judy Smith

Director of Administration

Charles Giglia

Director of Sports Sales

Matt Steinberg

Director of Creative Services

Pete Harvey

Director of Sports Development

Lori White

National Sales Director

Brian Hayden

Communications Manager

Dionne Williamson

Sales Director; Specialty Market

Ed Healy

Vice President of Marketing

President & CEO

Convention Services Manager

Melissa Bean Convention & Event Service Manager

Terry O’Brien

Operations Manager

Tom Beiter

Heather Petrino

Sales & Service Coordinator

Melissa Burke Senior Director of Sales and Marketing

Keith Pitman

Electrician

Lorna Cullen

Executive Assistant

Susan Kimmins

Sales & Catering Manager

Paul Scime

Food & Beverage Manager

MaryAnn Martin

Accounting & Benefits Manager

Raymond Thom

Executive Chef

Samuel Mendez

Assistant Operations Manager

Amy Trautman

Convention Sales Manager

Leslie Millender

Lobby Receptionist

Brooke Williams

Banquet Manager

Paul Murphy

Facility Director

Kenneth Sandford Chief Engineer

Raymond Williams Timekeeper/Security Danielle Winiarski Convention & Event Service Manager

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VISITBUFFALONIAGARA.COM

2015 BUFFALO NIAGARA CONVENTION CENTER STAFF Controller

2015 ANNUAL BUSINESS REVIEW

Jonathan A. Dandes Rick Aronberg Russ Brandon Mike Buczkowski Stephen Butler Chris Catanzaro

Brian Cavanaugh

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT BUFFALO This winter, Buffalo is fully embracing its cold weather. Canalside, covering 21 acres and with 33,000 square feet of ice, is one of three downtown ice rinks that recently opened in this Rust Belt comeback city. Along with new craft breweries, food trucks and winter festivals, ice is among the new waterfront attractions that have residents and visitors enjoying the cold.

THE NEW YORK TIMES

These days, Buffalo is in the midst of a postindustrial renaissance and proving itself to be a place where the American — and Canadian — dream can flourish,

especially if it involves food.

ST. CATHARINES STANDARD

Buffalo should learn to boast. It’s exciting to visit a postindustrial city where you can tour the abandoned grain elevators of Silo City or explore the waterfront on water bikes. It’s refreshing to eat somewhere where trail-blazing eateries are helping to revitalize patches of the city, where hungry citizens are grateful for every new thing to eat, and where businesses are genuinely pleased to serve you.

JENNIFER BAIN, THE TORONTO STAR

...THE CITY OF ‘GOOD NEIGHBORS’ IS SHEDDING ITS DECADESOLD IMAGE, AND IN THE PROCESS IS DRAWING COMPARISONS TO AUSTIN ON STEROIDS, BRIMMING WITH FUNKY CULTURE AND ART DECO ARCHITECTURE THAT

CAN LEAVE VISITORS SLACK JAWED.

USA TODAY

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