Events already booked for expanded facility
Michael Kane
Sun
Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre on Thursday announced record results with earnings up 25 per cent over the previous year.
High profile international events like the UN World Urban Forum and the World Hemophilia Conference pushed revenues above $19 million and provided an estimated $242 million in overall economic impact for the city and the province.
That impact — from spending on hotels, restaurants and taxis to local public relations, exhibitor and production services — is expected to surpass $1 billion when the convention centre expansion triples capacity in 2009.
Non-resident delegate days for the fiscal year ending March 31 were up more than 34,000 to about 174,000. Non-resident delegates contribute a daily average of $553 to the B.C. economy, about four times as much as leisure visitors, Barbara Maple, VCEC president, said in an interview.
That’s partly because expense accounts allow for higher end accommodation but also because of the extra costs of staging conferences and the financial contribution of corporate sponsors.
The World Urban Forum last June attracted 10,000 delegates from 150 countries and generated almost $18 million in non-resident delegate spending.
As the current centre, a legacy of Expo 86, approaches its 20th anniversary in July, it has already booked 54 events for 2009 and beyond when it will be Canada’s second largest convention centre, behind Toronto but ahead of Montreal.
Maple said 29 of those events couldn’t fit in the existing facility. Together, the 54 events will create an economic impact estimated at $1.1 billion.
While conventions are a vital contributor to Vancouver’s tourism numbers, they also foster professional development in British Columbia.
“It’s a tough one to measure but it really does give Vancouverites and British Columbians the opportunity to attend a global conference when they may not be able to travel afield,” Maple said.
Over the last fiscal year, the VCEC hosted 350 events — 745,000 delegate days — including the World Down Syndrome Congress, the Canadian Cardiovascular Conference and the 20th consecutive International Wine Festival, which attracted 20,000 visitors.
Over 11 days in February, four consecutive events generated more activity and food and beverage revenue for the local economy than the facility’s highest month on record.
Staff served 4,260 breakfasts, 9,115 lunches, 12,790 dinners and 11,300 coffee breaks, along with more than 2,600 bottles of B.C. Vintners Quality Alliance wine and 200 dozen bottles of local micro-brewery beer. The centre sells more B.C. wine than any other establishment in the province.
The business results demonstrate that the province’s investment in the convention centre’s expansion will pay off, Tourism Minister Stan Hagen said in a release.
“Expansion will enable us to grow the size and quality of B.C.’s convention business and take advantage of the global exposure we will receive from events like the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.,” he said.
The expanded centre will offer a combined total of nearly 500,000 square feet of function space and will serve as the international media centre for the 2010 Olympics.