by DaCheech 7 Replies latest jw friends
http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040728/BUSINESS04/407280320/1002
"A five-weekend Jehovah's Witness convention at the MetroCentre, which started earlier this month, is expected to draw about 32,000 visitors and generate $1.8 million"
32,000.. that's a rather large convention by modern standards, or maybe I was always in small districts. Conventions do generate a lot of revenue in hotel and restaurant fees, which in turn gives sorely needed tax revenues, so cities fight like broads over a $5 Coach purse to land conventions of all kinds. Witnesses have a bad reputation for not tipping though. On another downside they cause slight traffic congestion, but its a small price to pay.
I was at this one convention, went out to dinner with a bunch of other witnesses, at a HUGE table with one water. They walked this poor guy's butt off. When it was time to go, folks left a tip. THe cheapskate elder in front of me left one freakin dollar. He apparently thought me and my ex were gone already but we were just passing the table when we saw him actually walk back to the table and take his dollar back. He'd only done it for show, at that. He looked embarassed but didn't say anything, and of course being meeklike ones, we didn't say anything either.
I think that he means they anticipate 32,000 over the next 5 weekends. The Conventions I attended usually had over 8,000 in attendence. Multiply that by 5 and you get about 40,000.
Who gets the 1.8 million?
I assumed they are just estimating gross sales. Although that equalls out to $56.25 cents a person, not much.
And why stop there? Encourage the process by writing letters to conventions site owners asking them to open up
concession stands during the convention.
metatron
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Courting conventions Convention and Visitors Bureau reaches out for faith-based tourism By PHILIP ELLIOTT Courier & Press staff writer 461-0783 or [email protected]
July 23, 2004 Religious leaders from around the country puttered around Evansville on Wednesday and Thursday and will continue scouting the city as a potential site for their conventions.The Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau coordinated this week's familiarization tour - a junket of sorts - for six representatives from four faith-based groups. Tourism leaders said they hope to craft a niche for Evansville as a hub for such meetings.
"We have these groups here to let them know who we are and what we can do for them," said Summer Sisney, a sales executive with the convention and visitors bureau who targets the religious market.
She hosts one of these group visits each year, inviting dozens of prospects to on-site tours.
The three-day guided visit put the city's best faces forward. On Wednesday, the group walked through The Victory and The Centre. City representatives explained how they could set up for receptions, speakers, breakout-sessions and panels. They also toured Casino Aztar.
Thursday's trolley tour ushered visitors through the Holiday Inn and Marriott, the fairgrounds and along Green River Road. Director of Sales Bob Whitehouse provided a narrative for the visit, noting institutions' histories. The group drove by Downtown churches during the afternoon.
On Thursday evening, as rain doused Bosse Field, bureau officials hosted an all-American reception, complete with Cracker Jacks, ice cream and apple pie. The commissioner of the Frontier League and the owner of the Evansville Otters dropped by the tent to welcome the group.
It's just part of the constant attention the trip aims for. Visitors were offered snacks Wednesday about noon, ate cheese, crackers and shrimp at The Centre on Wednesday afternoon, dined at Casino Aztar's Cavanaugh's. Breakfast was at the Holiday Inn; they ate lunch at the Gerst Bavarian Haus.
"We don't let them get bored. We don't let them get hungry," Sisney said.
Ruth Adair of Tried Stone Full Gospel Baptist Church near Chicago eyed Evansville as a destination for a regional conference. If she selects Evansville, up to 1,100 people would visit the city next year. She is also considering the consolidation of regional women's meetings for a national meeting, perhaps here.
"We want something bigger."
But Adair, who is black, noted she hadn't seen the diversity she was expecting.
"I would've liked to see some black folks who weren't maids or cooks," Adair said.
Doretha White is considering Evansville to host a women's retreat for Church of Christ Written in Heaven, a large Tallahassee, Fla., congregation.
She paid close attention when the trolley rolled around Eastland Mall. "They want shopping," she said. "Plus, we want them to see something they wouldn't normally go to. We can see Birmingham anytime. We can go to Atlanta anytime."
Representatives from American Christian Writers, based in Nashville, Tenn., and from White Shrine of Jerusalem, a Masonic organization also joined the visit.
Evansville is hoisting itself up as a lower-cost alternative to large metropolitan areas. Visitors shared horror stories of traffic congestion in Atlanta and difficult travels in Florida.
The bureau's efforts this week are on behalf of the tourism industry here. Bureau staff themselves do not book the hotels, do not negotiate contracts, do not coordinate travel. Those aspects are left to the individual businesses and groups. Instead, the bureau staff attempts to make the prospects familiar with the city and what it offers.
Last year, more than 75,000 visitors flowed through Evansville. Conservative estimates put their influence at $15 million for the local economies. This month's two-weekend convention for Jehovah's Witnesses brought $3 million alone to the region.
That group has unofficially committed to the city through 2009.
A handful of other religious clusters are scheduled through the end of the year. If this tour is successful and secures multiyear deals, it could mean millions for the regional economy.
http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_3058225,00.html
I lived just east of Evansville Indiana...why the hell anyone would WANT to go there is beyond me...2 shi*ty malls, a couple of decent restaurants...stoplights on the freakin' expressway....UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TB
