A New Direction for the GHCVBAugust 21, 2008
Contact Information: The Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GHCVB), the destination sales and marketing arm of the city, has enjoyed and contributed to Houston’s success. These achievements were celebrated today at the GHCVB’s annual meeting, including: *Booked 579,995 hotel room nights for future years, which equates to more than $760 million in future expenditures. *Successfully booked and executed the Microsoft World Partner Conference, the largest single corporate meeting in Houston’s history. *Hosted 35 major conventions. Heli Expo, American Wind Energy Association, OTC, International Quilt Market and Festival all experienced record-breaking attendance. *Selected as the 11th destination to participate in the CityPass program. *Garnered nearly $50 million in global positive publicity, including Houston features in The New York Times and The Today Show. *Developed and launched My Houston, GHCVB’s first global image campaign. Successfully developed and launched a multi-faceted Spanish-language Web site. *Hosted 152 video and film projects. *Hired new Membership Director to oversee and expand the scope of the department. Chairman Thomas Jones, who was chosen to serve a second term, spoke of upcoming high profile events in Houston: *Latin Grammys: On Nov. 13, more than 100 different countries will tune in to see Houston spotlighted on a global stage. *Society of American Travel Writers (October 2008): 400 travel writers and public relations professionals from the U.S. and Canada will spend five days sampling the city for upcoming stories. *American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors (October 2008): 125 feature editors from newspapers around the country will spend time in the picturesque Museum District. *Association of Food Journalists (October 2008): 75 newspaper and magazine food journalists will experience our renowned culinary scene during their annual convention. "Houston is a great city of opportunity and we're on a roll right now," said Mayor Bill White. "But as we compete in the ever more competitive global marketplace, we can never stop selling ourself, selling our success. The GHCVB is an important tool for doing that." President and CEO Greg Ortale discussed his plans to build on the GHCVB’s success of recent years. Opportunities for Growth Houston is the energy capital of the world and home to the world’s largest medical center. Why, then, is Houston not a major player for energy and medical conventions? The GHCVB will engage the local business community and inform them about the benefits of meeting in Houston, tying the sales efforts to the city’s economic demographics and giving local companies a home-field advantage. The strategic plan intends to increase the conversion percentage of convention bookings in vertical markets—energy, medical, technology and biotech—by 13 percent over the next three years through “backyard marketing”—working with professionals in Houston that have the ability to bring their own national and international conventions to Houston. Enhanced Presence in DC – “be where the clients are” The Washington, D.C. area is home to nearly 7,000 associations. In the past three years, the GHCVB has booked 110 conventions from the D.C. market, which equates to nearly 250,000 room nights and an economic impact of $118,726,204. By increasing the size of the D.C. office from one to six dedicated sales people, Ortale expects to increase total room night numbers by 15 percent within one full year of operation. International Sales and Marketing Houston is already a leader in international business. The introduction of the new direct flights with Singapore, Emirates and Qatar Airlines show this, not to mention the reach of Continental Airlines in Latin America and the extensiveness of the entire Houston Airport System and Port of Houston. International attendance at U.S.-based conventions like the Offshore Technology Conference contribute to this, but a small percentage of convention business is international in origin. The GHCVB contracts with agencies in Mexico, Europe and Asia to promote tourism to Houston and has recently added a dedicated salesperson for the international convention market. All leisure marketing will move to the Web, and the tourism department will exclusively focus on marketing to groups via wholesalers and international congress organizers which, coupled with the added sales efforts, should increase the number of international conventions in Houston significantly. Awards The GHCVB recognized Mayor White for his contribution to the community with his vision for Discovery Green, Houston's new, incredibly successful downtown park. Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership, was publicly thanked for supporting the GHCVB’s research needs. Sandy Hulver was the inaugural recipient of a Lifetime Director award for her tremendous dedication and service to the board. World Premiere The meeting ended with a world premiere presentation of the ZZ Top My Houston television spot, which will begin running in regional markets this fall. The legendary Houston band talks about how Houston influenced their music careers and inspired their songs. “They told us to make it big we had to move to New York or LA. We didn’t! Houston’s music scene is an interesting fabric—it goes way, way back. It’s a fascinating musical place. Ray Charles once said, ‘If you want to put a great band together, go to Houston, Texas.’ Plenty of our songs were inspired by things that happened in Houston or, as we like to call it, ‘H-Town.’” ZZ Top is featured in the tenth My Houston television spot. Other featured local celebrities include Chandra Wilson, Chloe and Sydney Dao, Sugar Hill Studios’ Dan Workman, Houston Ballet’s Connor Walsh and Nao Kusuzaki, Art Car artist Mark Bradford, Houston Dynamo Brian Ching, restaurateurs Monica Pope and Marcus Davis, La Mafia members Oscar de la Rosa and Armando Lichtenburger and The Art Guys. To request a copy of the 2007-2008 Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau Annual Report, please contact Lindsey Brown at (713) 437-5275 or lbrown@ghcvb.org or Holly Clapham at (713) 437-5208 or hclapham@ghcvb.org. ### |
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