Jehovah’s Witnesses Keep Convention Center Home
Posted: Wednesday, November 3, 2010 2:50 pm
By Harry Saltzgaver?Executive Editor | 4 comments
They’re back.
Actually, they never left. But the Jehovah’s Witnesses have signed an agreement to make the Long Beach Convention Center its gathering home for the next eight to 10 years.
Steve Goodling, executive director of the Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, made the announcement last Thursday at the CVB’s annual meeting. The agreement translates into about 400,000 hotel room nights, or $4.5 million in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT or bed tax) directly to the city.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been gathering in Long Beach for regional and national conventions for a number of years. They have exchanged their work for the space rental, doing things including renovating the ground floor meeting rooms.
Goodling said this contract extension includes resurfacing the Long Beach Arena parking lot, adding planters to the front entrance of the arena and carpeting in the ballrooms and promenade of the Convention Center. In exchange, they will have meeting space for 14 or 15 weekends a year.
Goodling said final values still are being worked out, causing the uncertainty about the number of years the agreement will be in place.
That announcement followed the official blessing of a six-year deal with Hot August Nights, a mega-car show based in Reno, Nev. Goodling said the group will continue to produce its multi-week event in Reno, but add a five-day affair including the first weekend in August in Long Beach. That deal is expected to bring in $810,000 in TOT plus a large amount of spending in the area.
During the meeting, which took place in the Terrace Theater lobby and attracted more than 200 industry and community leaders, Goodling offered a list of CVB accomplishments, beginning with five major awards from travel and convention industry magazines and associations. He said Long Beach’s booking pace in 2010 was 55% higher than it was just eight years ago, with an estimated $618 million total future economic impact. That is figured on booking of 238,002 room nights.
In 2010, the city will receive approximately $14 million in TOT revenue, with half going to the general fund (which pays for most city services) and the other half to the Special Advertising and Promotion (SAP) fund.
The city pays the CVB more than $3 million (a contract that was reduced by 10% in fiscal 2011) to promote the city.
Finally, Goodling touted the CVB’s presence on the Internet, with www.visitlongbeach.com averaging more than 120,000 unique visitors per month. The bureau also is on Twitter, with 3,954 followers.