While leisure travel has rebounded in 2021, Rhode Island’s business and event tourism continues to struggle. This is troubling since municipalities and the hospitality industry depend on the revenue and community benefits from business travel, particularly the meetings and conventions market.
When we think about sustainable tourism driving the economy, building community and protecting the environment in a destination, the business-events sector is a massive contributor in nearly every U.S. city. Business meetings can generate thousands of hotel stays, fill restaurants in off-peak times, support local businesses and attractions, as well as contribute to the betterment of the community in which they are hosted through collected taxes and community support initiatives.
Providence typically generates $87 million in direct spending as a result of event bookings through its destination marketing organization, the Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau. The pandemic has resulted in lost revenue for the capital city, which does not have the same leisure appeal as its coastal counterpart, Newport. Even with campaigns such as PWCVB’s Meet in RI, which asks local companies to commit to hosting a future meeting, event or convention in Rhode Island, the city remains in a holding pattern for its first convention center-sized event. It isn’t scheduled to happen until the fall.
It will take years to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, but recently the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the availability of $750 million to support travel and tourism throughout the country. This is a great opportunity for destination marketing organizations to reimagine how they approach tourism and attract business events to their destinations. With $510 million of the total funding designated for marketing, infrastructure and workforce development to rejuvenate all forms of travel, the destination marketing organizations will be able to reestablish their convention and meeting venues and improve their offerings for hybrid and virtual event components.
This is a great opportunity for destination marketing organizations.
Community value-based marketing – a shift in destination marketing that allows the stakeholders in a destination, businesses and residents alike, to take part in telling their story and having their values represented in the ways the destination positions itself – is effective in both leisure and business travel. It allows destination marketing organizations to become a conduit between the true community sentiment in a location and the experience that visitors will have when they arrive.
A destination marketing organization can explore nearly endless opportunities to make their destination a better place to live, work and visit while simultaneously connecting all communities to the benefits of tourism, not just those specific to hospitality. In addition to these federal dollars, these marketing organizations will be able to fund the marketing needed to align business-event opportunities with shared community values and help shape safe, unforgettable local experiences for business events that will fuel a collective recovery for both the industry and the destination.
While the summer has told us a great story about recovery and has provided a significant sign of hope for the leisure travel segment, the spread of COVID-19 and its variants continue to dampen traveler excitement. The tourism industry still has a long road to recovery. As U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo recently said, “Tourism is local and has local needs.” The needs of the business-event tourism segment are certainly significant; however, the infusion of federal funds appropriately spent will propel cities across the country to a new era in destination management.
Bryan Lavin is an assistant professor of International Travel & Tourism Studies in the College of Hospitality Management at Johnson & Wales University.
Short reply for now: YES! More to follow. Steve Maciel