Convention Business

Baltimore's convention bureau, which scrimped for years on a fraction of what competitors spent to lure business, says a long-awaited budget increase is paying big dividends -- hundreds of millions of dollars in bookings.But even with $650 million in convention business booked last fiscal year -- a $270 million increase -- bookings still remain far short of projections used to justify the Baltimore Convention Center's publicly financed, $151 million expansion.Leaders of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association attribute the spike in bookings to a spending increase that doubled its budget to $6 million, significantly narrowing the gap between Baltimore and competing cities.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke's power play to seize control of the board that oversees the city's tourism and convention promotional efforts sends precisely the wrong signal. It marks a giant step backward in Baltimore's attempts to compete against other cities for convention business.The loss of Crown Central Petroleum owner Henry A. Rosenberg Jr. as chairman of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association is one this city can ill afford. He has been one of the city's biggest and most consistent boosters.

As Wayne C. Chappell prepares to leave his job after 17 years as convention director, downtown's tourism leaders fear he will be hard to replace because the city spends so little to lure conventioneers."

Last summer, when Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke traveled to San Francisco to woo convention business, he flew in the private comfort of a corporate jet -- the Crown Central Petroleum Corp. jet, courtesy of the company's chief executive officer, Henry A. Rosenberg Jr.There, the two men stood together on the deck of the Pride of Baltimore II, the promotional clipper ship, greeting executives who, they hoped, would be so impressed with the city's hospitality that they'd favor Baltimore with their lucrative convention business.

Local tourism officials, who won $150 million in taxpayer money to double the size of the Baltimore Convention Center, are now warning that the investment may not pay off without additional funds to promote it.But there's a dispute over where that money should come from, and whether even a heavily advertised convention center can live up to its promise of creating 6,600 new jobs and adding $30 million a year in new taxes by the year 2000.For as workers dig the foundation of an addition to the 15-year-old hall on West Pratt Street, dozens of cities are undergoing similar expansions.

Despite strong support this week in the House of Delegates for doubling the size of the Baltimore Convention Center, doubts remain among some senators about the wisdom of this $150 million project. With just over a week to go before adjournment, legislators should place passage of this bill at the top of their priority list.It would be foolish for senators to turn down this proposal. Why? For one thing, it won't cost the state anything. All of the state's $100 million contribution will be paid out of the added tax revenue generated by the expanded convention business -- plus another $12 million a year in profits.

Supporters of the proposed $150 million expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center have changed their tune this year, and the General Assembly seems much more inclined to dance to this one.Instead of stressing the benefits the project would have for Baltimore or the state as a whole, backers are pointing to the 200 tons of chicken that downtown hotels buy from the Eastern Shore, the millions of dollars of produce and seafood they buy from Jessup and...

Evidence mounts that failure to expand the Baltimore Convention Center will cost the state dearly in lost tax revenue, but that an enlarged facility is a real financial winner for the citizens of Maryland.At a recent legislative hearing on the $150 million plan to double the size of the Baltimore center, the legislature's own fiscal analyst said there "is potential for significant 'profit' in terms of revenue." The analyst also pointed out that failure to expand could lead to a sharp drop in state revenue from conventions and trade shows.

It's easy for a demagogue in the General Assembly to decry the proposed expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center. After all, this is a $150 million project, with $100 million coming from the state. In a time of taxpayer resentment against any large-sized government spending, some legislators are gleefully trying to block this project.That is a shortsighted and painfully costly position. This is one government initiative where the taxpayer comes out ahead. In fact, were the naysayers successful in voting down this project, taxpayers would wind up owing millions more every year to bail out a debt-laden convention center.

The Schaefer administration has come up with a relatively painless and sensible way to finance the much-needed expansion of the Baltimore Convention Center without increasing the state's overall debt load. It demonstrates once again why this proposal is such a winner for the state.To accommodate the state's $100 million share of the convention center expansion within Annapolis' debt affordability limit of $350 million, officials had to shift a key airport project to another account, seek approval to revamp the way counties float bonds for their highway projects, refinance old transportation bond issues at lower interest rates, and cut some $35 million out of the capital budget submitted by the governor last month.

When the $301 million, city-owned Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel opens this month, city officials believe it still can bring sorely needed convention business to the city despite a weak economy that has dampened demand for lodging. Hotel and city officials, who offered yesterday the first peek inside the 757-room hotel, say early booking results by convention groups and other travelers are promising. And the hotel will achieve its goal of opening on time and on budget, they said.

It's a promising start: 451,608 room nights in Baltimore hotels booked through 2017, business attributed in large part to that shiny new convention center hotel at the corner of Pratt and Paca streets. That's the assessment of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, which booked the hotel stays during a 12-month period that ended June 30. They should improve Baltimore's bottom line. Not only do these room nights translate into convention center business and companion stays at other area hotels, but robust bookings at the 757-room Hilton Baltimore should make good on city development officials' promise that the city-owned hotel could pay for itself.

With the opening of Baltimore's $301 million convention headquarters hotel a month away, city convention officials said yesterday they have booked a record number of convention room nights for future years. The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association said it booked 451,608 room nights in city hotels through 2017 during the fiscal year that ended June 30, an 18 percent jump over last year's bookings. The number beat the goal of 400,000 room nights - an achievement BACVA officials credited to the new Hilton Baltimore, a city-owned, 757-room convention headquarters hotel on West Pratt Street set to open next month.

The skyline of Baltimore is changing yet again. And whether your vantage point is Camden Yards, Federal Hill or Little Italy, not everyone is pleased with the view. A drive along Key Highway nowadays has the claustrophobic feel of a concrete canyon, the facades of new waterfront residences walling off the harbor. From Little Italy, the eye stumbles over a collection of apartment towers en route to the water. Then there's the constricted view from Camden Yards, a field of vision compromised by the imposing new convention center hotel.

Baltimore's $302 million convention center hotel is halfway built, on schedule, on budget and already attracting new convention business, city officials said yesterday as they marked construction reaching the 20th and top floor. The Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel, which is owned and financed by the city, is on track to make Baltimore more competitive in capturing major convention business, tourism and hotel officials said. "This has come a long way from a dream in our minds," M.J. "Jay" Brodie, president of the Baltimore Development Corp.

As The Sun has reported, the outlook for the citywide convention business from 2008 through 2010 is soft, and that's why the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association is taking immediate steps to fill some holes in the coming years ("Convention bookings decline," Feb. 10). Convention business is typically booked five to seven years in advance. But there is still time to make an impact with short-term bookings. Our strategies include adding more muscle to the sales team with one or two new sales managers in the Baltimore office and opening a Northeast sales office that will focus on corporate and pharmaceutical groups, which can book meetings in the short term.

If the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association had troubles in the past, the organization is paying for it now. Its bookings for 2008 through 2010 are abysmally low, a reflection of the agency's failure in past years to lock in future business. The new management at BACVA has its work cut out for it. How well it does booking more conventions and meetings will influence the success of the city-financed convention center hotel being built. The sad, sorry state of Baltimore's convention business dates to 2003, when the BACVA board fired executive director Carroll R. Armstrong for poor performance and falsified booking data.

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The Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association rolls out its new campaign today to sell the city as a secret worth getting in on. There's plenty to share about Baltimore: its hospitality, cultural attractions, conviviality, entertainment venues and accessibility. But the pitch can't target only tourists; it must entice convention and meeting planners if the city's convention business is to thrive. The BACVA professionals know this. That's why, within 24 hours of unveiling their new slogan and branding campaign, they will be promoting the city under the "Baltimore - Get In On It" banner at the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives, a big industry trade show with the potential to score convention business.

BALTIMORE MAYOR Martin O'Malley is going to get his convention center hotel after all. After weeks of contentious debate, deliberation and concessions by Mr. O'Malley, nine City Council members gave the mayor the votes needed to approve a publicly financed 752-room hotel. Now it's up to the mayor's convention and tourism team to use the project to sell conventioneers on Baltimore. For starters, a major marketing and sales campaign should be launched to win convention business and inaugurate the new Hilton in 2008.